Not Funny, Pro Baseball Tells Young Fan

ST. LOUIS (CN) - St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny claims he identified a teenager who aimed a laser at a San Francisco Giants pitcher during a game this week; the teen was arrested.

Matheny told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he identified the 17-year-old boy who aimed a green laser pointer at Giants pitcher Shane Loux during the seventh inning of Monday night's game at Busch Stadium.

Loux was in the middle of his windup when Cardinals batter Matt Holiday saw the laser on Loux's jersey and stepped out of the box.

Umpire Marvin Hudson called a timeout and Holiday and Hudson looked around the stadium for a few minutes before resuming play. Matheny told the Post-Dispatch he traced the laser to a luxury box down the first base line.

"One, Matt being distracted by a 90-mile-an-hour-plus fastball coming at him ... you've got a chance to get a player hurt," Matheny told the Post-Dispatch. "And two, it's a crazy world right now. You start seeing lasers and big crowds. I don't think the kid knew the severity of what he was really doing. But there were a couple things that could have really gone bad there.

"It's not like he did it the one time and said, 'Ooh, that's probably not a good idea.' The whole dugout jumped up trying to find him, and then he kept doing it."

Eric Bogard, 17, was booked on suspicion of disturbing the peace at an athletic event. He was released after posting $150 bail. Bogard was in a private suite owned by Mercy Health.

"We regret that this incident occurred, but because it is a police matter we cannot comment any further at this time," Mercy told the Post-Dispatch in a statement. "Mercy is conducting its own internal review of this unfortunate incident."

Follow @@joeharris_stl

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit