A private basketball league has dismissed an eighth-grade girls basketball coach after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a rival coach Monday night at Ranum High School in Westminster. It was the second incident in two weeks in which police were called to games involving teams from the league, JAM Basketball Inc.
Eric Law, 43, coach of the Triple Threat team, was arrested for allegedly running across the court to confront coach Chris Robson of the Ralston Valley Mustangs, whom Law accused of yelling at one of his players, who happened to be Law’s daughter. As Robson began to stand from a crouch, Law kneed him in the chest, according to an incident report from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Law was arrested on a charge of third-degree assault and ordered to court on June 9.
Mark Sharpley, president of Junior Athletics of the Midwest Inc., said Law was dismissed from the league. Sharpley said JAM Basketball has about 500 teams, which play in the spring and fall in various school gymnasiums.
“You can’t have physical contact in youth sports,” said Sharpley, who teaches physical education classes and coaches basketball at Jefferson Academy. “This league is about developing players and playing basketball with high values, which wasn’t the case in this situation.”
Police were called to another JAM game April 29, when members of the street gang Bloods Storming 80s started a brawl at the end of a basketball game at Eaglecrest High School in Aurora. Five people were injured, police said.
Sharpley said Team Aurora, whose members had ties to the street gang, has been dismissed from the league.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” Sharpley said.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
