Charges filed after Little League brouhaha
KIRKLAND, Wash. - A 41-year-old mom has been charged with assaulting a 12-year-old boy after a Little League game turned ugly in Kirkland.
Acccording to police reports, the mom allegedly assaulted the boy, who was playing for the visiting team at a game last week.
The reports say the home team mom, Jodi Scheffler, 41, left her side of the field and got into an altercation with boys from the visiting team. Name-calling escalated and then Scheffler allegedly grabbed the boy's face.
Scheffler told Kirkland police that the 12-year-old visiting player was calling her son a loser and taunting him during the game.
Charging papers say she told the boy and his brother to stop talking to her son. They told her to shut up and called her a "dumb blond." The report says she then called them "white trash," then allegedly grabbed the boy's face.
Now the mother of the 12-year-old boy, Michelle McLaughlin, is furious and speaking out.
"He's scared," McLaughlin says. "He asks me every day we play a game, 'Is she gonna be there? Is she gonna hit me?'"
But Scheffler told police that McLaughlin's husband chest-butted her.
"According to witnesses, the only thing my husband did was yelling at her from 30 feet away to get away from my kids - and charged up to her, asking her politely to go away, 'Back up, get away from my kids,'" says McLaughlin. "But as far as the chest-butting - that's a lie."
No charges have been filed against McLaughlin's husband. She says she's the one who decided to file charges against Scheffler.
"Maybe she'll learn to keep her anger to herself," McLaughlin says.
The Little League president calls this an unfortunate incident. Longtime coaches, meanwhile, say they haven't seen anything like it.
Some parents feel the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. But Scheffler faces a year in jail if she's convicted.
Acccording to police reports, the mom allegedly assaulted the boy, who was playing for the visiting team at a game last week.
The reports say the home team mom, Jodi Scheffler, 41, left her side of the field and got into an altercation with boys from the visiting team. Name-calling escalated and then Scheffler allegedly grabbed the boy's face.
Scheffler told Kirkland police that the 12-year-old visiting player was calling her son a loser and taunting him during the game.
Charging papers say she told the boy and his brother to stop talking to her son. They told her to shut up and called her a "dumb blond." The report says she then called them "white trash," then allegedly grabbed the boy's face.
Now the mother of the 12-year-old boy, Michelle McLaughlin, is furious and speaking out.
"He's scared," McLaughlin says. "He asks me every day we play a game, 'Is she gonna be there? Is she gonna hit me?'"
But Scheffler told police that McLaughlin's husband chest-butted her.
"According to witnesses, the only thing my husband did was yelling at her from 30 feet away to get away from my kids - and charged up to her, asking her politely to go away, 'Back up, get away from my kids,'" says McLaughlin. "But as far as the chest-butting - that's a lie."
No charges have been filed against McLaughlin's husband. She says she's the one who decided to file charges against Scheffler.
"Maybe she'll learn to keep her anger to herself," McLaughlin says.
The Little League president calls this an unfortunate incident. Longtime coaches, meanwhile, say they haven't seen anything like it.
Some parents feel the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. But Scheffler faces a year in jail if she's convicted.
