WHAM 13's Sean Carroll sat down with John Parrinello, the prominent Monroe County attorney and politician arrested recently at GCC and charged with criminal trespass.
Parrinello says he's retained Batavia attorney Lisa Kroemer to represent him. He believes two five-minute videos of the incident posted on YouTube vindicate him. He indicates he was trying to leave when he was arrested, but wanted to leave by the exit nearest his car rather than the one the trooper wanted him to leave by (don't all exits from the gym lead to one exit to the parking lot -- I mean, does it really matter which gym door he goes out of to be "closer to his car"?)
When a police officer tells
When a police officer tells you to walk out a door, you walk out that door. End of story. I was here for this event watching the game (I'm a student) and Mr. Parrinello took over an hour to leave a game that a ref had asked him to leave. He lost any chance of cooperation by the police department.
He was also wrong, that exit
He was also wrong, that exit from the gym would have not put him in any better of a spot to get to the loop. Good lesson, all of us should act like complete idiots and then argue with cops!
He admits to being abusive to
He admits to being abusive to the officials. He got what he deserves. He seems to think he is better then the refs, the police, and the administration at GCC. This man needs to be put in his place for a change. He said his own son won't even talk to him, but still thinks he is in the right. Sad case of entitlement.
He can afford to be cocky and
He can afford to be cocky and all this attention is cheap advertising for him. His lawyer will move to dismiss, he'll be given a conditional discharge and it'll all fade away into the dusty "non-news" pages of Genesee county history. The guy is the best defense attorney, jerk or not, in the area and everyone knows it. Anyone with a lick of sense understands that it does matter who you know. Right or wrong, that's just how life is.
If this had happened to anyone else, the story would've made a single sentence mention in the police blotter. There would've been no youtube videos or pictures because no one would've cared.
I, too, find it disturbing
I, too, find it disturbing that he seems to think it's OK to "ride the ref."
I agree that the criminal
I agree that the criminal case will fade away, but what needs to happen is the NJCAA should ban him from all events. Then the next time there is a problem, he can have the charges stick. The NJCAA needs to protect the member schools and officials. Our youth need to see these actions will not be sttod for.
I wasn't at the game, so
I wasn't at the game, so maybe I'm a little uninformed, but after reading all of the latest articles on this incident, this sounds a bit overkill. Seriously.
Okay, so he was vulgar and was giving the ref a hard time. He ends up arrested because he wanted to leave out a different exit and another commenter suggested having the NJCAA ban him from any future events.
This isn't the first guy in the world to act out at a sports event.
He was told to leave by
He was told to leave by Security, and he refused. Then he's arrested, as he should have been.
But I wouldn't ban him from all NJAA events. Just have him banned from GCC.
Well from what I've heard,
Well from what I've heard, this is a habitual pattern of this person. He allegedly has been removed from several other venues. If as a fan you continually interupt the game and other fans you lose the right to go.
Chris,
This isn't overkill, after the referee ejected the individual he refused to leave, at that point he could be arrested for trespassing, the police needed to be called to have him removed. They allowed him the oppurtunity to walk away, he still stayed, and they still offered him a chanceto leave, he refused to comply with the officer and got what he deserved. He knew he was commiting a crime when the police arrived, bur feels he is bigger then the law.
Look at it this way, if you were told if you called Grasso's house it would be a crime, you wouldn't have done it.
What you did was not criminal, what this man did was.
You might be mixing up your
You might be mixing up your Chris's.
Let me try this again. I'll
Let me try this again. I'll break things down even further.
- Parrinello gives the ref a hard time.
- Ref asks Parrinello to leave. He doesn't.
- Public Safety asks Parrinello to leave. He doesn't.
- County Sheriff's show up and eventually arrest him and forcibly remove him from the campus.
Okay, so this guy pisses off the ref enough to be asked to leave. Was he really riping at the ref that bad? This, like Chris Charvella's (who I'm not) case, reeks of small town drama regardless of how you spin it.
All of the were decisions made, more than likely, in the heat of the moment. If he was really being as much of an ass as he's being painted out as, the ref could've flat out told him to shut up or he'll be removed. Kicking someone out of a game over insults is pretty weak.
"the ref could've flat out
"the ref could've flat out told him to shut up or he'll be removed."
Appears that's what the ref did.
He didn't. He was arrested.
After being given AT LEAST 10 minutes to comply with the order to leave.
Another way to spin this is, "big time attorney shown favoritism in being given extra time to comply with order to leave, only after the cops showed way more leniency than they would to you or me, he was arrested."
(FWIW: I doubt either security or the troopers had much idea who he was.)
The video clearly shows security and state trooper (not county deputy) being extremely patient with the man. Parinello thinks the video helps his case. I think it proves the case against him.
I'm not looking at it that
I'm not looking at it that deep. I see a smartmouth lawyer kicked out of a basketball game and arrested over giving the ref a hard time. Did he deserve it? Probably. Is it overkill? Looks like it. Maybe I'm a little biased and jaded with anything involving the local law enforcement or the DA's office. Past and current experiences have taught me this.
If he had fair warning that he needed to shut up or get the boot, I'll gladly join the anti-Parrinello cause. He definitely was given more than enough lenience.
I'm sure Parinello has been
I'm sure Parinello has been to enough games to know that if you give the ref too hard of a time, you'll get booted. I'd say he had plenty of notice -- like years worth.
Also, ref's are human, it's
Also, ref's are human, it's probable that the same ref has listened to this big-mouth jerk at many other games over the years and had heard enough.
Sorry Chris, I was commenting
Sorry Chris, I was commenting on several posts and happened to confuse the situation.