NIU LB Jamaal Bass Indicted for Assault on Toledo Band Member
NIU LB Jamaal Bass was indicted on two counts of assault in Lucas County, Ohio. Bass faces up to eight years for the felonious assault count, and was also indicted on a misdemeanor charge.
Eight years seems like a lot (although if the band member was seriously injured it's certainly appropriate), but if the video here is the whole picture, he obviously seems like a thug who doesn't deserve an NCAA scholarship on any level. NIU claims he remains in school and that his status with the football team "has not changed".
Video below. Bass is number six on the far right.
anyone else notice the other band player that was on the ground ? Were they also knocked down ?
It looked like a domino effect. They both were hospitalized for concussions.
Both hospitalized ? No way they sustained major injuries from that bump. I think they were trying to set there case up from the start.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^
March 21st, 2012 at 12:13 PM ^
March 21st, 2012 at 12:17 PM ^
March 21st, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
Considering that he is STILL on the football team, meaning he is still on scholarship, I am guessing that the 8 years possible jailtime is largely due to the fact that the prosecutor appears to be the only one that gives a damn. The school hasn't done anything so the law must step in. My guess is that he will now be thrown off the team or something, it should depend on how bad the band member was hurt, does anyone know?
He was suspended 1 game initially and then 3 games when the team found out the band members had concussions. I think that's fairly stern but I don't know. The five Southern Miss band members that were chanting "where's your green card" during the bball tournament all lost their scholarships.
he was suspended for one by his coach, and then two from the MAC, from what I read. Whether or not this was due to the concussions, I don't know.
This story makes it sound like the coach extended the suspension after he found out the members were injured. Either way, I think there's probably a happy medium somewhere between a 3 game suspension and 8 years in the gray bar motel.
this doesn't look like a felony to me. Still, the guy recklessly caused two concussions at minimum, and there could be other evidence we haven't seen. I got the MAC impression from this article, although I am confused after seeing the one you posted. Who knows...
Your story is from a national source and mine was from a Chicago reporter. He may have just been trying to help NIU's coach save some face with the locals.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:16 PM ^
He's only been indicted, i.e. charged. I'd guess the charge will be lowered to some kind of misdemeanor or something. Then again, we're talking about Ohio so all bets are off.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:10 PM ^
Is it a malicious act? Absolutely. A bigger question is what the hell was the band still doing on the field at that point? Terrible communication by the stadium crew. The whole event could have been avoided. Even if he doesn't hit the kid, someone still could have been hurt.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:18 PM ^
Let's not do the thing where we blame the victim for being there.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:25 PM ^
That's not what I said at all. The player deserves everything he gets. I am just wondering why the band was still there when the players were running onto the field as that is not something that should happen.
Now the PC Nazis will start making marching band members wear pads in case this ever happens again. This is a strange case indeed. I don't understand why the band members didn't seem to be in any hurry to get out of the way.
Edit: Is it my comment in general or the fact I used the term "PC Nazis"?
March 21st, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
Well just look at the way he was dressing. He was asking for it.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:36 PM ^
he's blaming the stadium crew or event operations for the mis-timing of halftime show. There is a reason why event staff make teams wait until the field is cleared for warm-ups so there wouldn't be incident like this.
Speaking of Molly incident, Cornell mascot refused to leave the ice and had to exit at the exact same entrance as Michigan Hockey team. This kind of thing is why event operations exist so there wouldn't be any fights or provoked assaults.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:36 PM ^
March 21st, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
Please stop trying to thinly analogize what I said with implications of sexual assault.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:58 PM ^
Apparently the band was leaving and the football team came on early, before the entire team had a chance to leave. The band is not expected to run full speed just cause the team wants to come on, and if you notice the video it does look like the vast majority of the band had left and so yeah, don't really see how this changes anything.....you are in pads and you launch at a defenseless band member, nothing else should matter.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
I just watched the video and am shocked that charges were even filed let alone this guy potentially getting 8 years.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
Normally, for something to constitute a criminal act, you'd think it would be obvious from watching a slow-motion video. No idea what even happened there.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
reads that:
- No person shall knowingly cause physical harm to another or to another's unborn
- No person shall recklessly cause physical harm to another or to another's unborn
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2903.13
It definitely looks to me like he knowingly or recklessly caused physical harm, based on the viedo, in my opinion.
The felony is far less obvious, as it mandates that:
- Cause serious physical harm to another or to another’s unborn
or that the assault take place with a weapon.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^
He should be able to get out of the felony. He led with his shoulder and not with his helmet.
/s
March 21st, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
There's absolutely no way this "crime" could plausibly be defined as a felony, and it's very questionable whether it would even rise to the requirements of a misdemeanor. I feel that any decent attorney could have these charges dropped.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
I don't see a felony either, unless his action here caused a pretty bad injury. Look at the video, I see one other NIU player leave his feet, and that's while he's surrounded by teammates and some type of coach/trainer.
Bass jumped and his shoulder pad connected with the chin of an opposing team's band, and the kid crumples. According to this Yahoo! article, both band members were hospitalized with concussions. If someone hit me in the head and caused a concussion, I'd be wondering how his actions didn't (at the least) recklessly cause physical harm.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
I'm with you...I didn't really even see the hit to the band member. Scraped him with the shoulder pads, maybe. Bass basically jumped straight up and down. After the OP, I was expecting a lowered-shoulder tackle.
The guy went down like a sack of potatoes.
Dude, the band members is without pads and might be a skinny guy to start with. Not to mention that he is BAND member, not at all expected to take a hit, nor should he.
Haha I assume you're responding to my sack of potatoes comment.
I more meant that as an observation than support of my argument. I'd go down with a shoulder to the chin from a division 1 football player, too.
It still doesn't change the fact that intent isn't clear and even if there is intent, the 'crime' is more circumstance than premeditated assault. "Hey let's go kinda scrape a band members face on the way out there guys."
I have a feeling so does the school, why he is still playing! I hardly believe he had any intent here to hurt anyone, even if he did! NO way these charges stick at all....
March 21st, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
To me, it looks like he was going for one of those mid air shoulder/chest bumps that players commonly do. In this case, however, there was no other player and he just collided with the band member instead. I'd be kind of surprised if the band member was seriously injured from that. There's no doubt the player made a mistake, but, based on the video, I don't think he was intending to hurt anybody.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
Just to clear it up, His sentence is NOT 8 years. He hasn't even been tried yet, much less convicted.
8 years is the maximum that he could get, in most crime convictions, the actual penalty is much less than the maximum allowed.
I'm sure the lawyers who peruse this site have more insight than i do, but i wouldn't be surprised to see this setled out of court and him get probation, in addition to whatever NIU does to him
March 21st, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
I still don't see a felony. Maybe two misdemeanor assualt convictions.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^
March 21st, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
I may get negged here, but I just don't see it. I mean see "it" but I don't see anything worth 8 years or even a day in jail here. It's absolutely possible he acted with malicious intent here, but if this video is what we're basing our decisions off of, who's to say he wasn't just jumping around (albeit ill timed) like lots of guys doing when running on to the field? Who's to say he didn't horribly miss time a jump to try to get out of the way of someone else? Wrong place, wrong time for the guys on both ends of this is what it looks like to me.
I know there must be some other side of the story I clearly don't know about if he has pending felony charges against him for this, but as someone viewing this video for the first time, I think this just shows a band getting in the way of a football team. I say if Jamaal Bass gets locked up for it, lets go ahead and belatedly pursue a life sentence for Kevin Moen of Cal while we're at it.
Ok, now neg away or enlighten me as to what I'm clearly missing here.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
Watching the video, I seriously thought he was just trying to get a shoulder bump off the kid.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^
Agreed. Something must've horrendously gone wrong because the band students should never be put in that kind of situation. Criss-crossing with the opposing football team? You're just asking for something like this. It's really hard to tell if he's just jumping (common) or if it was with malicious intent. In an ideal world he would've stopped to make sure the band player he just nailed was all right and maybe helped him off, but who does that anymore?
He won't get 8 years. Maybe a misdemeanor. I'd direct my blame at the event staff to figure out what the hell happened. Did the band start/leave late? Did the football players run onto the field too early? This kind of stuff, especially if it were a rivalry (hell, the MSU players brought the Paul Bunyan trophy over to the MMB and taunted us with it after the game. I was about five feet from the trophy), can't happen. It jeapordizes the safety of the band.
At every game I've ever been to, the refs have been lined up directing traffic to prevent exactly this sort of situation. I don't know why they weren't in this case.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
So, it's OK for a Cincinnati basketball player to sucker punch an opponent in the face, and he doesn't get charged because he is a hometown player, but this guy from out of town gets a felony charge for pushing someone in Toledo?
Typical Ohio double-standard: "Worst State Ever," indeed.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:38 PM ^
I forgot about the Cincy player. Interesting viewpoint.
March 25th, 2012 at 11:02 AM ^
Haha, the legal system, I'll never understand it. On one hand, you have a prosecutor attempting to convict someone of what is most likely a celebratory and inconsidorate accident, though the video is unclear. In the other case, clear video evidence shows a guy getting blindsided by a punch to the side of the face and nothing happens.
Now THAT makes sense.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^
it's not ok. but just because the prosecutor was a useless piece of crap in that incident doesn't mean all prosecutors should be useless pieces of crap when it comes to all crimes perpetrated by athletes in uniform.
Joe Deters, worst prosecutor ever.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^
I expected to see a player run into the stands and punch a band member in the face or something in this video. Could it have been avoided? Definitely, but I'm not seeing an egregiously blatant act of violence on this video. A group of 100 jacked up college players wearing full pads are charging onto the field and getting ready to play football while a bunch of people are standing in the way. It is very possible that he is just running full steam, looking at the ground and jumping around to get pumped up. To me, there is nothing to see in that video other than some kids being in the wrong place at the wrong time. To call this kid a thug and deem this something worthy of clogging up our legal system even further is a joke in my eyes.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
That's basically how I feel. Though it's impossible to know the guy's true intent. I doubt he gets jail time.
March 21st, 2012 at 12:38 PM ^
the first one he jumps into falls back and cracks another band member in the face who then is left dazed holding his/her face for the rest of the clip. Other articles indicate both band members suffered serious concussions.
Assuming he has no previous record, I seriously doubt he does any actual jail time for this.