"Coach jailed for beaning autistic player" AP

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People who are "different" than everyone else are always going to be targets of the masses of "normal" people. It is really crazy that in this case it was an adult leading the charge against a child.

Intolerance of autistics happens far too often in Little League baseball. My own son was barely tolerated when he played and they seemed very happy when he quit. The coaches might have to have background checks but that doesn't check for what type of parent or coach they might be. There's far too much yelling at the kids, all the kids. I think the child that hit him should be punished too. He should have known better. And the coach should never be allowed to coach again. I don't think six years is long enough for the abuse and betrayal of trust he committed.

I'm having a hard time getting to grips with something here, probably because I don't live in the US. Doesn't baseball involve one person throwing a ball at another? Isn't getting hit by the ball a risk accepted by those participating in the game? On that basis, it seems absurd that someone should go to prison, even if their intent was malicious, and they were abusing a position of trust... and for six years!

The background of the story is: the autistic boy's mom claims that she was given wrong dates for games several times so that her son would miss them. The boy was hit twice during warm ups. Warming up before a game is when you toss the ball back in forth in pairs. The boy that was paired up with him claims that he was told to hit him on purpose to get him out of the game. He claims that he normally would not be paired up with him but did so for the purpose of hitting the autistic boy.
He claims that after the game, he felt guilty and confessed to his parents.

So, there is evidence that this boy was being discriminated against prior to the assault. He may not have known the assaults were deliberate at the time.
The coach was sentenced because he corrupted a minor. Getting hit with a baseball is pretty serious. I got hit in the head with a softball and I saw stars and blackness for a few moments.

Good thing that piece of NT s**t is now behind bars, anyway.

In Sweden he would never had been convicted to jail just for destroying the life of an AS kid.

And in England getting hit by a ball would not constitute the destruction of a kid's life.

Ah, I see. Prison seems a bit much, though.

it would probably fall under the term 'hate crime'.
which, carries more severe penalties than normal crimes of similar actions.

Not the hit in itself, of course.

I'm confused... what does it mean to bean someone?

Beat someone up.

I thought it meant to hit someone on the head, but I'm no expert on N American vernacular.

I see, one of the many new crimes invented by the left. We have that over here, too. If you belong to a politically-unfavoured group and someone insults you, then you just shrug it off and get on with your life. If, however, you belong to a politically-favoured minority you can report the incident and see the perpetrator of the heinous crime at least gets a court hearing, and if you're lucky a prison sentence.

To be honest the people who invented the idea of "hate crimes" are the criminals. They should be strung up. People should be equal in the eyes of the law; clearly in both the US and UK they aren't.

Anyway, in respect of the case under discussion, I don't think "hate crime" was mentioned by the judge — but correct me if I'm wrong.

Neither am I, but i looked into an English-Swedish dictionary.

It could mean either, but in this case, given the context, I think it means to hit someone in the head