Not surprisingly, a junior college football player is trying to spin one of this past weekend’s most ugly incidents in a more positive light.
Mount San Antonio College freshman offensive lineman Bernard Schirmer was ejected from a game Saturday night for punching an official who was attempting to restrain him, knocking the official out cold. Schirmer was subsequently arrested for suspicion of battery and led away from the playing field in handcuffs.VIDEO: Mt. SAC lineman punches referee between plays at Ventura College (video by @SoCalCollegeSpo) @scfafootball pic.twitter.com/ZD4vejJRYp
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In an interview with the Ventura County Star, Schirmer said often tries to compose himself by hitting himself in the helmet “so I calm myself down” and that he didn’t know it was the ref next to him when he, ahem, violently attempted to calm himself down.
“My friends were trying to pull me back away from the defensive end,” Schirmer said. “I didn’t know the ref was right inside of me, bear hugging me. ...
“I didn’t mean any of that to happen. I’m truly sorry about what happened to the ref.”
The district attorney’s office is still attempting to determine whether or not to formally charge Schirmer. For what it’s worth, the referee doesn’t want to pursue charges, and Schirmer’s school believes the player “unintentionally hit the referee.”
“Mount San Antonio College will continue to complete an assessment of his conduct to determine what sanctions, if any, are appropriate for the incident,” a statement from the school read. “Additionally, the college is fully cooperating with investigations by other agencies.”