Utah soccer referee Ricardo Portillo dies week after being punched [View all]

[alp227]

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Ricardo Portillo’s miracle never came.

The 46-year-old soccer referee died Saturday, after a week in a coma.

The Unified Police Department press release announcing Portillo’s death said the 17-year-old boy accused of punching Portillo remains in a juvenile detention facility. He has not been formally charged with any crime.

"Formal charges will be screened early next week with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office," the press release said. "Since Portillo has passed away additional charges will be screened in connection with his death."

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56263774-78/portillo-police-news-soccer.html.csp

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An article in Saturday's Tribune summarized a police report about the incident:

...as players jostled for position, he saw the goalkeeper push an opponent with his hands. Portillo lifted his "Yellow Card," issuing a warning to the 17-year-old boy. He then began writing the infraction in his official’s notebook.

According to a police report, obtained Friday by The Salt Lake Tribune under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act, the 46-year-old Portillo probably never saw the blow coming — a powerful punch to the head that would leave him in a coma and fighting for his life a week later.

Witnesses told police on April 27 that the teenage goalie — playing in his first game for the La Liga Continental de Futbol squad — was enraged by the call. He punched Portillo once. The referee went down on the field at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville, and that is where Unified Police Department officers found him lying when they responded to a 911 call about 11:40 a.m. that Saturday.

This game was in a recreational league, not the official Utah youth soccer league, per KSL television. And wow...this kid really destroyed his future and another person's life just because he didn't like the ref's call?

I'd seen this story before on KSL.com when I visited the station site after learning about the station dropping Hannibal. I ignored it then but saw this story re-surface on the AP newswire just now because of Portillo's death. The teenager threw out both an angry punch AND any hopes of a stable adult life.

The Liga Continental Facebook page posted this photo of Portillo:



(In English: "WE ARE WITH YOU! Today for him, Tomorrow for us!&quot