Charges Sought in Bullpen Brawl

Police have decided to seek assault and battery charges against Yankee reliever Jeff Nelson and right fielder Karim Garcia over a bullpen brawl with a Red Sox employee.

David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk County, Mass., district attorney, said police would ask a clerk-magistrate today to schedule a hearing to determine whether there is probable cause to charge the players.

“Boston police have conducted a very comprehensive investigation and moved slowly with good reason. We wanted to make sure we had the clearest picture of what occurred,” Procopio said Monday.

He said the hearing probably would be scheduled for November.

Garcia and Nelson, in Miami for Game 3 of the World Series against the Marlins, said they were unaware of the plan by police to seek the charges.

“There’s nothing to say. We’ll see what happens and go from there,” Garcia said.

Paul Williams, a part-time groundskeeper at Fenway Park, contends the two Yankees attacked him for cheering for the Red Sox while he was working in New York’s bullpen during the Oct. 11 game in the American League championship series. He was treated and released from a hospital after the fracas.

The Yankees said Williams provoked them.

“It’s still got to work its way out. It’s a long way from being done,” Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said Monday.

Williams’ mother, Phyllis, said her son had no comment Monday.

Red Sox spokesman Kevin Shea said Monday that the “last we heard, that matter was still under investigation.”

“Boston police will handle it in the appropriate manner and best way they see fit, and we have every confidence that they will,” he said.