Pop Warner football coach arrested

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A youth football coach has been stripped of his

responsibilities after facing drunk-driving and willful

child-endangerment charges in connection with a car accident he and three

of his team members were in last week in route to a weekend competition

in the town of Needles near the Arizona border.

Barrett Brown, a 35-year-old Pee Wee coach for the city’s Pop Warner

football chapter, was arrested by the California Highway Patrol after his

1995 Isuzu Rodeo overturned on a rural highway at 6:15 p.m. Friday, five

miles outside the California city, authorities said.

Brown’s attorney was unable to comment on the case Wednesday due to

its preliminary nature.

A Cypress resident, Brown was carrying three boys between 11 and 12

years old destined for a postseason consolation game Saturday in

Laughlin, Nev. None of the boys, nor Brown, were seriously hurt in the

accident.

“The boys were all wearing their seat belts,” said Officer Bill Haney,

spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. “Oddly enough, Brown was the

only person not wearing one.”

Brown and the boys suffered bruises and scratches, and were treated at

Needles Desert Communities Hospital and released that day.

Officials with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said

Brown was jailed over the weekend in lieu of $1,053 bail for drunk

driving, and $100,000 on the willful child-endangerment charge.

San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Brisco, of the Needles

office, dropped Brown’s cruelty to children bail down to $15,000 in a

Tuesday arraignment hearing, where the Cypress man pleaded not guilty to

all charges, court officials said.

Brown posted bail Wednesday morning, and is due back to the Needles

courtroom for a pretrial hearing Dec. 19.

San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Mauri Braun said Brown faces

a maximum of five years in jail if convicted, one for each of the child

endangerment charges, as well as one year for causing injury while under

the influence of alcohol, and another for having a blood-alcohol level

above the state’s cap of 0.08%.

“This is an abominable situation and our thoughts and concerns go out

to boys and their families,” said Steven Sherman, president of Huntington

Beach Pop Warner. “It’s amazing that no one was seriously hurt ... we

were very lucky.”

At least one of the boys, he added, slipped out of his seat belt and

was thrown through the window of the sport utility vehicle after the

glass had popped out.

For the past two years, Brown has coached football for boys age 12

years old and younger in the Pop Warner organization, and was

representing the city chapter’s six team leaders on the agency’s board of

directors before the accident.

“Obviously, he has been removed both as coach and as a

representative,” Sherman said, adding that all coaching positions in Pop

Warner are voluntary, and until now, Brown has shown himself to be a fair

and compassionate team leader.

Pop Warner officials said the city’s chapter has zero tolerance for

alcohol use, and Brown “broke every rule.”

Brown’s team was one of five city teams traveling to play in the

Saturday football games. His three young passengers were not able to

participate, though one was able to attend the competition to cheer

teammates on, chapter officials said.