National Roundup

Ohio
Ump sues MLB, claiming race discrimination
CINCINNATI (AP) — Angel Hernandez, a big league umpire for nearly a quarter-century, sued Major League Baseball on Monday alleging race discrimination.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, the 55-year-old Hernandez, who was born in Cuba and lives in Florida, alleges MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre “has a history of animosity towards Hernandez stemming from Torre’s time as manager of the New York Yankees.”

As evidence of the alleged discrimination, the suit cites Hernandez’s lack of World Series assignments in the past decade and baseball not promoting Hernandez to crew chief.
MLB declined comment, spokesman Michael Teevan said.

Hernandez cites criticism by Torre in 2001 that Hernandez “seems to see something nobody else does” and “I think he just wanted to be noticed over there.”

The complaint alleges Hernandez received positive evaluations for most of his big league career, which began in 1993, but says “following Torre’s arrival in Major League Baseball’s front office in 2011, the notion that Hernandez ‘just wanted to be noticed’ permeated Hernandez’s yearly evaluations, as did Torre’s general negative attitude towards Hernandez.”

Hernandez worked the World Series in 2002 and 2005 but not since. Hernandez worked last year’s NL Championship Series along with Division Series in 2011, ‘12 and ‘15.

Other than Alfonso Marquez, who worked the World Series in 2011 and ‘15, the suit says “the other 34 umpires assigned to the World Series during Torre’s time in the office of the commissioner have been white.”
“The selection of these less qualified, white individuals over Hernandez was motivated by racial, national origin and/or ethnic considerations,” the suit says.

In addition, the suit claims Hernandez has served as a temporary crew chief and applied four times to be a permanent crew chief, and “all 23 umpires promoted to crew chief since 2000 have been white.”

The suit alleges violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Ohio state law.

“Major League Baseball’s actions were intentional, with reckless disregard for Hernandez’s rights,” it claims.

According to the suit, Hernandez and the World Umpires Association asked MLB why Hernandez was not promoted to crew chief for this season. The suit says Torre sent a letter on March 27 stating Hernandez needed to “gain greater mastery of the official playing rules and replay regulations, continue to improve situation management, and display an ability to refocus and move forward after missing calls or receiving constructive feedback from the office.”

Hernandez filed a pair of charges of discrimination against Major League Baseball on June 5, and the suit says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued notices of right to sue last week. The suit asks for money damages and an injunction against any discriminatory conduct by MLB.

Hernandez worked third base for the Chicago Cubs’ game at Cincinnati on Sunday, but was not working Monday night.


Kentucky
Inmate left overnight in courthouse cell
WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. (AP) — An inmate mistakenly left alone overnight at a Kentucky courthouse has been returned to jail.

News outlets report that a pretrial release officer happened to discover James Thomas Adkins Tuesday morning locked inside a Whitley County Judicial Center holding cell in Williamsburg. Sheriff Colan Harrell says officials took Adkins there Monday afternoon for a hearing on charges related to nonpayment of fines and failure to appear.

Harrell says the courtroom security officer responsible for making sure the cells were empty forgot about Adkins while responding to a man in the building threatening suicide.

Harrell is now creating a checklist for guards to follow before they leave. He hasn’t decided whether to take disciplinary action against the officer who left Adkins.

Adkins was returned to the county detention center.

Alabama
Murder charge filed in fight with sanitation worker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Police in Alabama say they’ve charged a suspect with murder after an unarmed man was fatally shot while trying to intervene in a dispute involving relatives and two on-duty city sanitation workers.

Al.com reports that 42-year-old Larry Duncan was killed by gunfire Sunday morning in Birmingham.

Police said shots were fired between one of the sanitation workers and 23-year-old Ryan Johnson, who was wounded.

Police say Johnson has been charged with murder in connection with Duncan’s death. Jail records don’t list an attorney for Johnson.

Police have been investigating what prompted the dispute — and why it ended so violently.

Birmingham police Sgt. Bryan Shelton said it’s not clear why an on-duty city employee had a handgun on the job.

Florida
Foreign-exchange host accused of molesting girl kills himself
MIAMI (AP) — A man accused of molesting an underage foreign-exchange student killed himself Tuesday, days after being released from a Florida jail.

Dale Leary, 50, was found dead in a car parked in the backyard of his home near Miami. His 47-year-old ex-wife Claudia Leary — found unconscious in the car next to him — was taken to a hospital, where her condition was unavailable Wednesday morning.

Investigators found an apparent suicide note nearby.

The Miami Herald reports police arrested Leary and his 21-year-old second wife on a sex-related charge last month.

Authorities say Dale and Claudia Leary had hosted the second wife when she was a foreign-exchange student from Spain from 2012 to 2014. Days after she turned 18, the exchange student married Leary, who divorced Claudia Leary in 2014.

Investigators arrested Dale Leary and his second wife last month on sex charges, saying the two had lured the wife’s 14-year-old sister to Miami and manipulated her into participating in sex acts and pornographic photo shoots.

According to investigators, Claudia Leary remained a part of their lives and detectives are trying to determine whether she played any role in Leary’s alleged misconduct.

The Herald reported Leary was a marketing and tech consultant. He had pleaded not guilty to a host of sex charges and was released from jail.

Leary’s second wife remains in jail. Her lawyer, Jorge Viera, said he learned of her husband’s death on Tuesday and plans to break the news to his client.

“This is very shocking,” Viera said. “A very sad situation.”