{"id":99528,"date":"2015-03-15T13:29:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T13:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=99528"},"modified":"2015-03-15T13:29:20","modified_gmt":"2015-03-15T13:29:20","slug":"footballer-jailed-for-killing-referee-with-single-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/03\/footballer-jailed-for-killing-referee-with-single-punch\/","title":{"rendered":"Footballer jailed for killing referee with single punch"},"content":{"rendered":"
An amateur footballer has been jailed for killing a referee with a single punch after he was booked in a Michigan United Soccer League match.<\/p>\n
John Bieniewicz was about to show Bassel Saad a second yellow card and send the 37-year-old mechanic off when Saad knocked the official unconscious.<\/p>\n
The referee, 44, died two days after the game in Detroit last June.<\/p>\n
Saad pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced on Friday to at least eight years in jail.<\/p>\n
As Saad was about to be taken from the court, Mr Bieniewicz’s widow Kristen held up a red card and said: “I would like to serve Mr Saad with the red card that he was entitled to.”<\/p>\n
Judge Thomas Cameron said: “For better or for worse, you’ve come to personify all that’s wrong with many people’s belief about the escalation of violence in sports.”<\/p>\n
Saad was ordered to pay $9,200 (\u00a36,200) in funeral expenses.<\/p>\n
Michigan lawmakers are to consider new crimes for assaults on sports referees.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An amateur footballer has been jailed for killing a referee with a single punch after he was booked in a Michigan United Soccer League match. John Bieniewicz was about to show Bassel Saad a second yellow card and send the 37-year-old mechanic off when Saad knocked the official unconscious. The referee, 44, died two days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":99532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"yoast_head":"\n