Razor Blades in Trunk Handle Injure Girls’ High School Soccer Coach in N.Y.

The coach of a girls’ high school soccer team suffered hand injuries from razor blades that were embedded in the hatchback trunk handle of her car--apparently because of her team’s losing record, police said Friday.

Patricia Beyea, the girls’ soccer coach at Naples High School, severed tendons, nerves and blood vessels in her hand when she opened the back of her car Oct. 15, said Philip Povero, Ontario County Sheriff’s Department Investigator.

Police said Beyea has been the target of threatening letters for nearly two months and was driven from her home in nearby Canandaigua after a brick was thrown through the window.

Police said obscene and threatening letters sent to Beyea and Naples School Superintendent Richard Arnold indicate the motive for the attacks was the soccer team’s 5-10 record this year.

“The person responsible is obviously upset with Miss Beyea,” Povero said. “Right now, we can only speculate that the soccer team record apparently is a contributing factor in the harassment of Miss Beyea.”

Beyea, because of the problems, resigned last week from the $1,200-a-year part-time coaching job and is living at an undisclosed address. She continues to teach physical education classes at the school about 45 miles south of Rochester in Upstate New York.

The threats to Beyea, which began Sept. 15, led school officials to cancel the remainder of the girls’ soccer season.

Police said the notes, which threatened Beyea with physical harm, were signed, “Concerned Parent and Taxpayer,” and complained that Beyea “isn’t worth what she’s being paid” for coaching.

Police said they had numerous leads in the investigation and expected to make an arrest soon.