Kenny Rogers Agrees to Anger Management Class
Completion of class will reduce assault charge
to midsemeanor
04:21 PM CST on Friday, March 24, 2006
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
FORT
WORTH - Former Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny
Rogers has agreed to take an anger
management class, and in return, a pending
assault charge would be reduced to the equivalent
of a traffic ticket.
The agreement was signed Friday afternoon in
Judge Brent A. Carr’s court.
Mr. Rogers was charged with assaulting Larry
Rodriguez, a photographer for KDFW-TV (Channel
4), before a June 2005 game at Ameriquest Field
in Arlington.
Mr. Rodriguez went to the hospital with back
and neck pain after Mr. Rogers shoved the heavy
TV camera off his shoulder.
Mr. Rogers, who is in spring training with the
Detroit Tigers, was originally charged with a
Class A misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of
up to a year in jail.
If Mr. Rogers completes the anger
management course by July 28, the charge will
be reduced to a Class C misdemeanor, which includes
no jail time.
Rogers agrees to anger management for videotaped
tirade
Associated Press
The Detroit News
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny
Rogers won't face possible jail time for knocking
down a cameraman during a videotaped tirade last
year if he completes an anger
management class, prosecutors said.
Rogers made the agreement Friday while appearing
before Tarrant County Criminal Court Judge Brent
Carr, Assistant District Attorney Mark Thielman
said.
Rogers, then with the Texas Rangers, was charged
with a Class A misdemeanor after videotape of
the June 29 incident showed him walking onto Ameriquest
Field in Arlington for pregame stretching and
pushing a television camera to the ground.
He then kicked the camera and threatened to do
more damage. Larry Rodriguez, who works for Dallas-Fort
Worth television station KDFW, was hospitalized
after falling down when Rogers grabbed his camera.
Thielman said Rogers has four months to complete
the class,
which must be approved by the court.
In exchange, prosecutors will reduce the charge
to a Class C misdemeanor, which carries a maximum
fine of $500.
Rogers was suspended for 20 games for the incident,
a penalty the players' association appealed and
was reduced to 13 games by an arbitrator.
He signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the
Tigers during the offseason.
|
