Youth baseball umpire arrested after allegedly shoving parent, placing deputy in choke hold

(Image credit: Ballparks National)

On Saturday evening, May 13, deputies with Missouri’s Camden County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to Ballparks National on Kissick Way in Macks Creek for a disturbance involving an umpire and a player’s parent.

Upon arriving at the ballpark, the deputy spoke with a witness who claimed an umpire shoved her out of his way during a disagreement. When the deputy approached the umpire to get his statement, the umpire refused to identify himself. The umpire then attempted to walk away from the deputy who was still conducting his investigation.

When the deputy stopped the umpire, he turned on the deputy and took him to the ground in what witnesses described as a choke hold. After a struggle, and with assistance from several spectators, the deputy was able to take the umpire into custody and identify him as 56-year-old Neal A. Sidebottom of Versailles.

The deputy was later transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries received during the struggle with Sidebottom.

Sidebottom was taken into custody and transported to the Camden County Adult Detention Facility. He was charged with the Class A Felony of 1st Degree Assault Special Victim with Serious Physical Injury and the Class A Misdemeanor of Resisting Arrest. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.

“Ballparks National (BPN) is a privately owned youth baseball and fastpitch softball complex located off Hwy 54 in Camden County, between Macks Creek and Camdenton, Missouri; just minutes from Lake of the Ozark, the #1 recreational lake in the US.” ~ per https://ballparksnational.com/

(Source and Neal A. Sidebottom booking photo: Camden County Sheriff’s Office)

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram