Neutral party to investigate Pasco-West Richland basketball game blowup

The Pasco and Richland school districts have hired a neutral party to investigate what happened at a Feb. 15 middle school basketball game.

“The two districts will be working with an external, neutral third-party to investigate the matter,” said a two-sentence joint statement given to the Herald by the Richland district’s Communications Director Steve Aagaard.

At the end of the investigation, “final reports will be provided to each district’s superintendent,” he wrote.

Richland and Pasco officials said no other information about the investigation or incident will be released in the meantime, including who the third party is or status of the coach ejected from the game.

The coach of an eighth-grade girls team was thrown out of the game after referees gave him two technical fouls. The incident happened at an evening game between Leona Libby Middle School in West Richland and Ellen Ochoa Middle School in Pasco.

The game was not over but the coach reportedly took his team with him when he left.

A Pasco parent told the Herald that his daughter was in tears when he picked her up that night from Libby. She said some West Richland students and parents had shouted derogatory comments.

Shane Edinger, the Pasco school district’s communication director, confirmed Feb. 16 that Pasco school officials were checking into initial reports that “derogatory phrases” were said to the players and parents.

Richland officials responded with a statement Saturday that said their initial investigation found nothing offensive was said, though they said one spectator got into a confrontation with the Ochoa coach.

Richland officials blamed the Ochoa coach for poor sportsmanship, saying he “chose to quit” the lopsided game with two minutes left.

Pasco officials have declined to release any statement pending the outcome of the investigation.

This story was originally published February 22, 2018 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Neutral party to investigate Pasco-West Richland basketball game blowup."