Hope they charge him as an adult. I guess it would be a manslaughter charge. What neither article states is that the ref was looking down writing when the guy punched him in his temple. So he was younger and bigger and the fuckhead still had to sucker punch.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/05/ricardo-portillo-soccer-referee-dies_n_3219305.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/05/us/utah-soccer-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/05/ricardo-portillo-soccer-referee-dies_n_3219305.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
From CNN...Accounts from a police report, Portillo's daughter and others offer further detail what occurred.
The teenager was playing goalie during a game at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville when Portillo issued him a yellow card for pushing an opposing forward trying to score. In soccer, a yellow card is given as a warning to a player for an egregious violation of the rules. Two yellow cards lead to a red card and expulsion from the game.
The teenager, quite a bit heavier than Portillo, began arguing with the referee, then punched him in the face. Portillo seemed fine at first, then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. He sat down and started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance.
When police arrived around noon, the teenager was gone and Portillo was laying on the ground in the fetal position. Through translators, Portillo told emergency workers that his face and back hurt and he felt nauseous. He had no visible injuries and remained conscious. He was considered to be in fair condition when they took him to the Intermountain Medical Center.
But when Portillo arrived to the hospital, he slipped into a coma with swelling in his brain. Johana Portillo called detectives to let them know his condition had worsened.
That's when detectives intensified their search for the goalie. By Saturday evening, the teenager's father agreed to bring him down to speak with police.
Johana Portillo said she last spoke to him that night before he fell into a coma. She grabbed his hand and told him he was going to be all right. He held her hand tightly and said, "no." Within seconds, doctors ushered her out of the room and he lost consciousness.
She said Sunday night, with tears streaming down her face, that her father will always be in her heart. "It's going to be very difficult," she said. "But I know he's going to help us from heaven.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/05/us/utah-soccer-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
A referee for a recreational soccer league who was punched in the face by a teenager has died, police in Salt Lake City said.
Ricardo Portillo, 46, was refereeing a game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville on April 27 when he cited a player for an infraction and issued him a "yellow card."
In soccer, a yellow card is a caution to the player; a second results in his ejection from the game.
The decision, police say, prompted the 17-year-old player to turn around and punch Portillo in the face.
At first, authorities thought Portillo suffered only minor injuries from the assault.
But after he was taken to a hospital, doctors discovered he had suffered serious internal head injuries, police said.
For seven days, he remained in critical condition.
"He loved soccer," his daughter Johana Portillo told CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday. "We just never thought this was going to happen. He loved what he did and it was his passion."
She added: "The doctor says only a miracle will bring my daddy back."
On Saturday night, Portillo died from his injuries.
Authorities will conduct an autopsy.
Teen in juvenile detention
As for the teenager, he remains in juvenile detention.
Police initially charged him with aggravated assault. But with Portillo's death, authorities expect to upgrade the charges.
Officials have not released the teenager's name because he is a juvenile.
The incident took place during a game of Fut International, a Hispanic soccer league for children between ages 5 and 17.
League president Mario Vasquez told CNN affiliate KUTV he didn't know the suspect personally, but was not aware of other incidents involving the player.
But, he said, the league has a no-tolerance policy and kicks out players if they engage in violence toward each other, referees or parents.
Similar incident in the Netherlands
The incident brings to mind a similar attack in the Netherlands in December.
In that incident, police charged two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old who beat a 41-year-old linesman during an amateur soccer game.
The linesman's son was playing in the game when the incident occurred -- and witnessed the attack.
The linesman, Richard Nieuwenhuizen, fell into a coma and died the next day.