Jackie Robinson West whistleblower arrested after odd drunken encounter
Chris Janes spent five months worrying about where a team of 12-year-old baseball players lived, so you’d figure he knows where his own house is, but nope.
Janes, the whistleblower who pushed Little League International for months to strip the U.S. title of Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West team, was arrested early Tuesday morning after he drunkenly showed up at the wrong home, banged on the door and swore at the people who lived there.
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Janes, 39, told the Chicago Tribune he’d been at a bar local Monday night, where he watched the Chicago Blackhawks game. He intended to walk home, but instead wound up at the wrong house a block away. When he started to cause a racket, the couple inside the house didn’t recognize Janes and called the police. The Tribune explains more of the odd scene:
“When they asked what he wanted, he said, ‘Just come on out here.’ She called the police, and Mr. Janes left the area. We stopped him a couple houses to the north,” Donovan said.
When police arrived, Janes was “uncooperative, wouldn’t identify who he was, seemed intoxicated. After they tried to handcuff him, he pulled away, but we did get him handcuffed,” Donovan said.
One of Janes’ arms was bleeding, Donovan said, so police called an ambulance and the wound was bandaged. Donovan does not know how Janes cut his arm. Neither does Janes.
Janes now faces charges of disorderly conduct, assault, resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer. On Tuesday night, he spoke to the media outside his home in Evergreen Park.
He’s a coach and vice president of the Little League there. His team was trounced 43-2 by Jackie Robinson West as the team advanced to the Little League World Series. As his rival team became a national feel-good story, Janes started logging inconsistencies with where the players on the team actually lived and JRW’s boundaries within the local league district.
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After Little League initially ruled that all the Jackie Robinson West players were eligible, Janes wrote Little League International a letter wanting a better explanation and threatened legal action if he didn’t get it. He also kickstarted the media firestorm that led to Little League International re-investigating the case and stripping JRW of its title.
Janes, who’d been well spoken throughout the Little League controversy, offered a straightforward apology, taking responsibility for his actions. He told the Tribune:
“People have been asking, but I don’t remember. I don’t remember any of it. I feel awful, awful,” Janes said. “There’s no two sides of it. I had too much to drink. I thought I was going to my house. I don’t even know these poor people, and I scared the hell out of them” …
“I thought I was going home. I went to the wrong house. After that, I really can’t tell you what happened. I have no idea. I read the report, too, and I feel awful. I scared some poor lady. I treated the police poorly who have been so supportive of us.”
The Evergreen Police had been stationed outside of Janes’ home in the aftermath of the JRW decision, because he said he was receiving death threats. So at least they know where he lives.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
