King Jackass

The middle-school basketball dad who truck sticked a 72-year-old referee in the back is your terrible person of the week

January 05, 2022

Welcome back to Terrible Person of the Week, one of the most hottest (and most hotly contested) game shows in America! This week, we saw plenty of pretenders come and go—Novak “The Rules Don’t Apply to Me” Djokovic, Antonio “World’s No. 1 Teammate” Brown, the Tennessee state representative who tried to pants a referee at a high-school basketball game—but now it’s finally time to announce this week's champion. Drum roll please …

Connngraaaaatulaaaaations to Kenmore, Washington’s very own Mark McLaughlin, who takes home a shiny new criminal record and a financially crippling civil lawsuit! McLaughlin, who clocks in at 6’6” and tips the scales at well over 200 pounds, locked up this week’s top asshole honors when he blindsided a 72-year-old referee after the final buzzer of his son’s middle-school basketball game.

McLaughlin’s son had committed a foul just as time expired and, as tempers flared on the court, was accidentally knocked down by a different referee. As that referee helped McLaughlin’s son back to his feet, McLaughlin stormed onto the court at full speed, checking the elderly man in the back, who hit the floor face first, sustaining a broken nose and cheekbone, according to police reports. The impact was so severe that the victim’s nose reportedly did not stop bleeding for 90 minutes after the altercation.

McLaughlin, a former basketball player at the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Central Washington University, plead "not guilty" to the second-degree assault charges. His bail was set at $20,000 based on the ”likelihood that the defendant may commit a violent offense." McLaughlin’s record also contains a deferred domestic violence charge dating back to 2014, per Seattle's King 5 News

So there you have it. Another day, another jackass. Make sure to tune in next week for more, because, trust us, there’s always more.