Judge disputes claim that youth football coach showed gun

Published Oct. 10, 2018 2:36 p.m. ET

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois judge is rebuffing claims that a youth football coach brandished a gun during a fight with parents, and he agreed to set lower bonds for both men arrested during the melee.

Forty-three-year-old Terrance Morris of Valparaiso, Indiana, and 39-year-old Devorah Clark of Merrillville, Indiana, are facing felony charges stemming from the Saturday fight in Rockford.

They were coaches for the Calumet City Thunderbolts when a postgame fight broke out with Rockford Renegades coaches and parents.

The Rockford Register Star reports three witnesses told police they saw Clark with a gun, but Judge Francis Martinez said during a hearing Tuesday that the weapon was found in Clark's car.

A prosecutor sought $50,000 bonds for both men. Martinez set a $25,000 bond for Clark and $5,000 for Morris.