Thursday, November 8, 2012

Delmon Young pleads guilty to harassment in Manhattan bias incident

Delmon Young pleaded guilty Wednesday in a random, drunken anti-Semitic attack on a tourist in Midtown Manhattan last April.  

Young admitted he was guilty of misdemeanor aggravated harassment and a deal was reached which will keep the former-Detroit Tigers star out of jail and will eventually leave him with no criminal record.

Young — this year's American League Championship Series MVP against the New York Yankees — has spent months in counseling with Jewish leaders who wrote letters of support to the judge on Young's behalf.

"He reached out to two rabbis in Detroit who have become his confidants," said Young's defense lawyer Daniel Ollen. "He has accepted responsibility for his actions."

The 27-year-old Young admitted in court papers that he was guilty of misdemeanor aggravated harassment but did not admit to any specific details of the attack — which was partially caught on surveillance video.  The victim was in a group of four tourists who were talking to a panhandler — wearing a yarmulke and a Star of David — outside the Hilton Hotel when Young reportedly went on his bizarre attack of the Illinois businessman.

Young was accused of throwing the man into a wall while shouting, "F---ing Jews!" before he was subdued.



The $6.7 million-a-year designated hitter was fined $250,000 after being suspended by Major League Baseball.

Under terms of the plea deal, Young must complete 10 days of community service in New York and a one-day program with the New York Museum of Tolerance.

Young was let go by the team immediately after the conclusion of the World Series — in which Detroit was swept by the San Francisco Giants — after the front office said they had no interest in bringing the free-agent back in 2013.


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