Man held for trial in assault of referees

POTTSTOWN >> A man accused of assaulting two referees after an adult rec league basketball game is heading to trial.

Donnell Robinson, 24, of Philadelphia, faced a preliminary hearing Thursday after he was accused of knocking a referee unconscious and punching another referre at a Men’s League basketball game in November.

District Judge Edward C. Kropp dropped felony assault charges against Robinson, but ordered him to stand trial on charges of assault on a sports official, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Because the felony charges were dismissed, Kropp also re-

duced Robinson’s bail $25,000 to $5,000, according to court dockets. Robinson has been scheduled for a formal arraignment on June 7.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the incident occurred on Nov. 20, 2016, at around 9:51 p.m. Lower Pottsgrove Police were called to the 422 Sports Complex, 1400 Industrial Blvd., for a report of a referee that was assaulted during a basketball game. Police said in court documents it was reported that as the referees were gathering their belongings after the game, one of the players, identified as Robinson, “walked up behind one of the two referees and punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground and lose consciousness. When the other referee tried to intervene, Robinson started to punch that referee all about the face and head several times.” He was then pulled off the referee by players and fled the building, police allege.

At the preliminary hearing Thursday, both referees

and the scorekeeper at the November game were called to testify.

Andrew Meszaros, one of the two referees Robinson is charged with assaulting, testified that both games that evening, the last of which Robinson had played, had gone smoothly and that there had been no indication that an altercation was about to happen.

“You know when things are heated or about to get out of hand,” testified Meszaros. “This wasn’t the case.”

Meszaros stated that as the two teams were shaking hands, he had made his way toward the score table to change. When he turned his head, Meszaros said he saw Robinson punch his partner in the jaw from behind and watched his partner fall to the ground unconscious. He said he then attempted to get Robinson away from his partner and was punched once in the face and once on the back of the head by Robinson.

The scorekeeper at the game, a student who works at the complex, was the second witness called to testify. In his statements, the worker said Robinson had approached the first referee, gotten his

attention and punched him as he turned around. The referee then fell to the ground unconscious. When Meszaros came to intervene, the worker testified, Meszaros put his hands up to try and get Robinson away from the fallen referee and was hit by Robinson more than once.

Larry Perry, the second referee that Robinson is accused of assaulting, was third to testify.

In his statements, Perry said he had not engaged with Robinson prior to being hit, including turning around to acknowledge him in any way. Perry said he was not sure how long he had been unconscious but that when he eventually regained consciousness he was evaluated by EMS and declined to be transported by ambulance.

He later drove himself to the hospital to get a CAT scan and be checked for blood clots related to another condition. A week later, he was seen by an orthodontist and told he had swelling and a displaced jaw, he said.

Robinson did not take the stand to testify at the hearing on the advice of his attorney.