Battery Charges Recommended Against Brison

Los Angeles police have submitted the case of a high school athlete--arrested for allegedly punching a track coach--to juvenile authorities with the recommendation that the athlete be charged with misdemeanor battery.

However, Detective Sandy Hendricks said after interviewing Brian Brison of San Fernando High on Thursday that she has asked for the charges regretfully, saying she considers Brison’s predicament unfortunate.

The sophomore football and track standout was arrested Monday on suspicion of punching Birmingham Coach Scott King at the Birmingham track. Juvenile authorities may seek battery charges or place Brison in a probationary or mediation program.

“He’s a very mannerly young man and a fantastic athlete,” Hendricks said. “I think it’s a tragedy that he has to pay for his father’s inability to control his own temper.”

Brison, 16, was arrested after he and his father, James, accompanied a group of San Fernando athletes to Birmingham to practice on the track. After King and James Brison argued over use of the track, Brian Brison punched King, according to the police report.

King, 38, was hit on the left side of the jaw with a punch, according to police. Brison and his father dispute that account, saying that King was accidentally struck only when Brison tried to restrain his father.

“I don’t know if I hit him or my dad did,” Brison said. “If I did, it was an accident.”

San Fernando suspended Brison from school for five days, beginning Wednesday, effectively ending his track season. He ranks as one of the area’s top sprinters with times of 10.8 seconds in the 100 meters and 22.2 in the 200.

He was scheduled to compete Wednesday in the Northwest Valley Conference finals at Birmingham, but the suspension rendered him ineligible.

In addition, he faces the permanent loss of athletic eligibility in the City Section. The rules committee of the section’s Interscholastic Athletics Committee will hear his case May 17.

San Fernando football Coach Tom Hernandez said he was shocked when he heard about the incident.

“He was never a problem with us,” he said. “He was never late or missed a practice with us and was never defiant. I was looking forward to having him on the football team.”

Brison, who has attended three high schools, transferred to San Fernando in January after he was suspended from Alemany because, he said, he “got into verbal conflicts with teachers.”