Charges Could Be Filed In Sequim 'Basket-Brawl'

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By By Michelle Esteban

Summary

Police think a parent and high school basketball coach should be charged with assault for fight after a high school basketball game.

Story Published: Feb 28, 2005 at 7:02 PM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 1:52 AM PDT

Charges Could Be Filed In Sequim 'Basket-Brawl'
SEQUIM - Police think a parent and head high school basketball coach should be charged with assault.

Sequim police plan to ask the Clallam County prosecutor to charge them with a misdemeanor after a 'Basket-Brawl' nearly two weeks ago.

For the girl's varsity basketball team at Peninsula High, their entire season came down to a playoff game against Sequim.

But within seconds, their championship dreams were dashed. That was bad enough, but it was about to get uglier.

A brawl broke out on the hardwood between a parent and the head coach. The assistant coach jumped in too.

"He stepped into an incendiary moment, expressing his opinion," said Dan Lehmann, talking about parent Rick Rae. Both their daughters are on the team.

Last week, Rae told KOMO 4 News that the coach, Jerrod Fleury, initiated the attack. Rae says all he was trying to do was leave the game.

"He came barreling after me and he just basically ran me over and then, a chest butt -- full speed chest butt; not once but twice. And the he started coming a third time so I just swung at him 'cause I thought he was gonna come at me again," Rae said.

Lehman disagrees.

"He (Rae) was not leaving the game. He immediately went to the coach and immediately expressed his opinion," insists Lehman.

News-watcher videotape shows the parent staggering backwards, then you see him lurch towards the coach and punch him. That's when the assistant coach, Rufus Smith charged in and started punching the parent.

Dan Lehmann says both men were wrong to get physical, but says the videotape doesn't tell the whole story.

"This isn't the first time Rick Rae confronted the coach face to face," says Lehmann. He remembers an ugly incident after the Peninsula/Fife game.

"When I heard it was Rick Rae getting pushed, it wasn't that much of a shock to me," says Erika Lehmann, a sophomore at Peninsula High.

Erica is on the Varsity team -- she was a foot away from the brawl. She says the coach told them he's frustrated with parents butting in and may resign. She says he even talked about that prior to the brawl.

"Most of us felt, if he leaves, we just don't want to come back next year...we don't want him to resign, we love him as a coach," said Erica.

The school district says it's still investigating and has 30 days to complete an evaluation on both coaches. So far, the district says it has not received any official notice of resignation from Coach Fleury. His wife coaches the Junior Varsity Girl's Basketball Team.

The Sequim police department says it could forward the case to the prosecutor as early as Tuesday. It will be up to the Clallam County Prosecutor's Office to decide whether to press charges.