Richard Portillo, Referee For A Hispanic Soccer League: Died After Being Punched In The Face By A Teen Soccer Player

Referee, Richard Portillo, from Utah, died yesterday after a teen soccer player punched him in the face because Portillo had issued him a yellow card.

His daughters had begged him to stop refereeing in a Hispanic soccer league because they knew that there has been an increased risk of violence resulting from angry players, according to the Associated Press.  He kept with the league, however, and his family is faced with having to plan his funeral after the blow put him in a week-long coma that ended in his death yesterday evening.

The incident occurred on April 27, and Portillo was taken to a Salt Lake City Hospital and had been in critical condition until his death, according to the Examiner.

Authorities say that the incident occurred when a 17-year-old goalie punched Portillo in the face because he had been called for a foul and issued a yellow card, the AP reports.  "The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Justin Hoyal, Unified police spokesman, said in a press release.

"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," his daughter, Johana Portillo,26, explained, saying that she hadn't been at the game, but she had heard the accounts of witnesses and detectives, according to the AP.

In a police report Johana said that the game was being played at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville, Utah, the AP reports.  She said that he was quite a bit heavier than her father and he had begun arguing with Portillo before he threw the punch.  She explained that he had seemed fine at first but then he began to feel dizzy and after that he sat down and started vomiting blood.

According to Johana's account, when the police arrive at the scene at around noon the 17-year-old had left and Portillo was on the ground in the fetal position, AP reports.  He somehow managed to communicate with emergency workers and tell them that his face and back hurt and he felt nauseous.  When he was found by the police he was in a  conscious state and had no visible injuries.  

It wasn't until after he arrived at Intermountain Medical Center that he slipped into a coma due to swelling in his brain, the AP reports.  It was at that point that Johana had called detectives to let them know that his condition had worsened.  After that detectives intensified their search for the young goalie, however, by Saturday evening the boy's father had brought him to speak to the police.

The name of the player who punched Portillo has not been released due to the fact that he is a minor, according to the Examiner.  However, he was arrested earlier in the week and remains in custody.

"The suspect has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault," the AP reports.  However, since Portillo's death, authorities have begun to consider additional charges, according to the Examiner.

No cause of death has yet been released, but there is an autopsy planned in order to investigate the situation further, according to the AP.  He suffered swelling within his brain and had been listed in critical condition.

"We will miss him at the soccer fields. He loved the game and loved doing his job. Ricardo always had a great sense of humor and loved being in the service of others," said Mario Vazquez, president of the league and a friend who had worked with Portillo, according to the AP.  "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Portillo family during this difficult time. Ricardo will always be with us," he said.

The unaffiliated soccer league that Portillo worked with, Liga Continental de Futbol, added a tribute to Portillo on their Facebook page, which included a number of photos of him ref-ing and playing soccer, the AP reports.  The league has set up a bank account to accept donation for his family.

According to his family, this was not the first time that Portillo had been attacked, according to the AP.  Johana said that she and her sisters had pleaded with him to stop refereeing because of the increased risk, but be continued to ref because he loved soccer.  "It was his passion. We could not tell him no."Johana said.