Casper Youth Baseball Coach Arrested After Argument With Umpire

A 38-year-old coach was arrested Thursday evening after getting into an argument with an umpire during a baseball game for middle school-aged in Casper.

Christopher Patrick Magrum was booked into jail on charges of disturbing the peace and interference.

Charging papers say a Casper police officer arrived at the Field of Dreams Baseball Complex at roughly 9:15 p.m. Wednesday to attend a game being played on field three. He saw several coaches arguing on field six and, upon entering a dugout on field three, was almost immediately approached by several women who said a physical fight was underway on field six.

The officer went to field six and found coaches, umpires and fans engaged in a heated argument. One of the umpires -- a 14-year-old boy -- stepped back and explained to the officer that Magrum had pushed the other umpire, who was about 18 years old.

Magrum was ejected, but didn't leave.

The officer approached Magrum and explained the allegations against him. Magrum reportedly became extremely agitated and started yelling before walking away from the officer.

Court documents say Magrum refused to identify himself when the officer asked. Instead, Magrum allegedly continued to yell and said the umpire pushed him after he approached the umpire.

Magrum went into the parking lot and walked south, continuing to accuse the umpire of pushing him, refusing to identify himself and saying he was going to leave.

At about that time, Magrum's mother started walking between the officer and Magrum, saying she was going to take Magrum home. The officer asked her to step away, but Magrum's mother reportedly refused.

The officer told Magrum he was not free to leave and needed to identify himself. Magrum kept yelling, refusing to comply.

In the middle of the parking lot, Magrum abruptly turned towards the officer and began posturing, thrashing his arms. The officer tried to arrest Magrum, but he resisted and a struggle ensued.

Magrum reportedly ignored multiple commands to stop resisting, so the officer took Magrum to the ground in a seated position. He again ordered Magrum to stop resisting and lay on the ground, but Magrum pulled away from the officer and stood back up, according to the police affidavit.

At that point, a nearby Natrona County Sheriff's deputy helped the officer take Magrum to the ground and handcuff him.

The officer tried to get Magrum to his feet, but Magrum reportedly continued to struggle, saying he knew the officer from "the gym" and wanted to fight him. Magrum was taken to the officer's patrol car and later taken to jail.

While being driven to the Natrona County Detention Center, Magrum reportedly said, "I will see [the officer] at the gym and we will have a riff, you can tell him." Magrum also said, "he might want to bring his badge along just to protect himself" and "I will brush elbows with that ... again."

"I'll run into him in his city clothes, then he is fair game," Magrum allegedly said, adding that he'd get the officer to assault him so he could press charges.

The game's head umpire told another officer that he had warned both coaches about disputing calls during the game. Magrum later got very upset about a call, yelling and walking onto the field. The umpire said he ejected Magrum.

Magrum, the umpire continued, became very upset and had to be ordered off the field several times. Magrum left, but returned and kept aggressively moving toward the umpire. Magrum got so close and was so aggressive that the umpire thought Magrum was going to tackle him.

Using one hand, the umpire pushed Magrum away from him, ordering Magrum to leave the field about 10 times. Magrum didn't leave until the officer showed up.

Magrum's mother later told police she was working in the scorekeeper's box when she noticed the umpire had incorrectly counted the number of outs in the inning, allowing more runs to be scored against Magrum's team.

By then, Magrum was in an argument with the umpire, so Magrum's mother went down to the field to help fix the situation. When she got there, the officer was telling Magrum to leave the field.

At the jail, officers noted Magrum sustained minor injuries including redness on his right cheek, a small scrape on top of his right shoulder, a long red mark on the back of his right shoulder and scrapes on both knees.

Magrum reportedly said he worked at the same gym the officer used, adding, "I hope I see that f------ cop at the gym!"

Deputies asked Magrum what he'd do if he saw the officer, court documents say, to which magrum sarcastically replied, "I will invite him to lunch! I will walk right up to him and invite him to lunch!"

In his police interview, Magrum said he got into an argument with the umpire about the number of outs in the game and was ejected. The umpire pushed him, Magrum said. As he was leaving the field, Magrum saw the officer and decided he wanted to speak to him about pressing charges against the umpire.

Magrum said the officer told him to leave the field and asked Magrum to identify himself. Magrum replied that he didn't have any identification on him, and the officer followed him, "badgering" Magrum and "rubbing up against" him. Magrum told investigators that he asked the officer to arrest him if he was going to be arrest, but Magrum said he didn't want to be lectured.

Magrum claimed the officer tried to put him in a chokehold. Magrum grabbed the officer's elbow, but Magrum's hoodie was pulled over his head. Magrum said he was punched in the face, thrown to the ground and handcuffed.

Though he initially claimed he was completely compliant with officers' commands, Magrum later said he did fight back.