By Jeff Lipton
The charge was dropped at a conference in District Court in Hempstead on Monday, but the emotional pain of facing jail time and a future without football will linger, Mr. Mammone's mother and father said. He had been arrested on Nov. 24 by First Squad detectives who charged him with assaulting Mepham senior Brendan Wright.
During a blocking assignment, Mr. Mammone, a fullback, became entangled with Mr. Wright and continued to hold the Mepham linebacker with one hand while bringing down his other hand three times in karate-chop fashion against Mr. Wright's left elbow, dislocating it.
Mr. Wright missed the final two games of the regular season but, with his arm in a cast, returned three weeks after the incident for a playoff game. Mr. Mammone was ejected from the Oct. 21 game for unsportsmanlike conduct, automatically suspended for the next game and was held out of the remaining regular-season and playoff games by the Hewlett-Woodmere School District.
The parents of Mr. Wright pressed charges about 10 days after the incident and police arrested Mr. Mammone after viewing a videotape of the play.
On Monday, District Court Judge Alfred Cooper accepted the recommendation of Denis Dillon, Nassau district attorney, to dismiss the case against the 17-year-old Mammone.
But the incident has left the accused and his family with a bitter taste over a criminal case they said should never have been brought in the first place.
"I'm just pleased and relieved that the people saw it for what it was, which is nothing," said Mr. Mammone's father, Philip Herman.
"This is certainly something none of us will ever forget," Mr. Herman said. "My hope is that time will heal all wounds."
He added that the criminal charge was such a shock because previously his son had not received so much as a personal foul -- a penalty for roughing up an opponent -- in a football game. "He's never been in a fight in school or in a game. That's just not him," Mr. Herman said.
In addition, the father said the school had given his son two character awards for showing reason, respect and responsibility to his fellow classmates and teachers. But Mr. Mammone's mother, Valerie Herman, said the school administration, after the arrest, turned its back on her son, who has been active in athletics as well as other extracurricular school activities such as writing for the school newspaper. She added that teachers have supported him but the administration and the athletic director have not shown him any backing at all. "It appears that the school administration chose to protect themselves from litigation than support one of their own," she said.
"This has resulted in great emotional stress for our family and has had a great and a huge negative impact on Robbie," she added. "He has had a hard time concentrating in school on his school work." She said his grades have been slipping since the arrest. "It has had a tremendous impact on a really great kid. The next thing he knows is that two detectives are knocking on his door [to arrest him]. It was very frightening. The kid was scared.
"This is something Robbie will probably never forget, but something he will hopefully get past."
To get accepted to the colleges of his choice, he has applied on an academic basis and not on the basis of his football accomplishments, his mother said. "I don't know if he wants to play football again," she said. "This has taken a big toll on him. He has lost all his enthusiasm for the sport.
"It's really sad. I think Robbie learned an awful lot about people. He used to be very, very happy and popular. I hope this doesn't make him cynical and jaded at the age of 17."
District Attorney Dillon said he reviewed witness statements and a videotape of the incident and determined that the assault charge against Mr. Mammone should be dropped. "Following the examination, I have concluded that the defendant's injurious conduct was unsportsmanlike and inexcusable," Mr. Dillon said. But it does not warrant prosecution, he said.
He said rules that would apply off the field should not be used for play on the football field.
"Football is by definition a sport wherein violent contact and injury are all too commonplace," Mr. Dillon said. "Yet the rules of football and interscholastic athletics contemplate this and are designed to minimize injury and to penalize participants who violate the rules. Conduct and injuries which would not be tolerated off the field frequently occur during a football game.
"This in no way excuses the defendant's conduct, but the fact that a player was injured is not the sole criterion to consider in deciding whether to prosecute a case criminally. In this case, notwithstanding the pain and injury allegedly caused by the defendant, his actions were relatively brief in duration, apparently impulsive, reactive in nature, and, significantly, occurred prior to the whistle terminating play. In such cases, the determination of the appropriate sanctions is best left to the school district and league officials."
Thomas F. Liotti, an attorney for Mr. Mammone, said he was thrilled that the case was but still upset that police arrested his client. "I have serious misgivings and regrets about the conduct of the police department during their investigation of this case; in entertaining this case as a criminal prosecution and in making false, defamatory and inappropriate statements to the media. Accusing an outstanding student and athlete such as Robert Mammone of a crime for his actions on the athletic field has caused Robert, as well as his family, to sustain permanent and irreparable damage emotionally, financially and with respect to the loss of sports, scholarship and college opportunities.
"My client never intended to cause harm or injury to the complainant. This is a matter that should have been properly handled by school officials together with the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and the students themselves."
Detective Sergeant John DeMartinis of the First Squad said he could not respond to Mr. Liotti's statement. Hewlett-Woodmere School District administrators also maintained their stance on declining to comment, and attempts to contact the Wright family were unsuccessful.
