Kathleen Gray

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING — Kyle Bieniewicz became a sports referee at age 12 because it's what his father loved to do.

But their shared passion turned to tragedy in 2014, when John Bieniewicz was punched by a player in the Livonia adult soccer league and died two days later. Now Kyle and his mother, Kristen Bieniewicz, want some good to come from the death.

"When someone is overly passionate about their kid fighting their way around the rules of the game, it gets taken out on us," Kyle Bieniewicz told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. "We screw up sometimes. We shouldn’t have to worry about the fear of being attacked when we screw up."

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The mother and son were testifying on two bills that would increase penalties for an assault against a referee, making a simple assault a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail instead of the current 93 days. An assault causing injury that requires medical attention would be a felony carrying a maximum penalty of two years in prison, rising to five years for a serious impairment.

John Bieniewicz's attacker, Bassel Saad, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and is serving 8-15 years in prison as part of a plea deal.

"The big difference between what is in place and what is being proposed is one key word — 'felony,' " Kristen Bieniewicz said. "That word alone is able to help deter people and make them think twice about what they’re doing and saying in the stands.

"Referees are out on an island; there’s nobody there to protect them," she added. "It’s not like they’re packing a gun. They’ve got a whistle. That’s it."

The committee voted 3-1 to move the bills to the full Senate for a vote, with the hope that they go further than they did in 2015, when bills passed the committee but never got a vote in the Senate or House of Representatives.

"I really get the feeling that we’re dealing with a much larger problem," said Sen. Steven Bieda, D-Warren. "Maybe there could be more signs posted or warnings on tickets. There needs to be a mind-set change here."

James Dworman, an attorney and sports official from West Bloomfield, said increasing penalties helped organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving hammer home the point that drunken driving is a costly crime.

"Years of exposure to the message, along with greatly enhanced penalties, have really curtailed that problem," he said, adding that discourse at sporting events and even in politics has deteriorated. "Unfortunately, we don’t live in (an) Andy Griffith society. We live in the 'Jerry Springer' society."

But Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, who voted against the bills, said they run counter to the state constitution, which guarantees equal protection for all under the law.

"There is a coarsening in society. People are getting divided by race, religion, and now it will divide us based on occupation," he said. "How does this bill, carving out special protection for certain citizens, comply with our Constitution?"

Michigan would join 23 other states that have laws regarding assaults on referees, according to the Wisconsin-based National Association of Sports Officials, which has been advocating for such laws since 1984.

The bills — SB 200-201 — now move to the full Senate for consideration.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.