The Detroit Tigers placed outfielder Delmon Young on the restricted list Saturday and said he would be evaluated under baseball’s employee assistance program following his arrest on a hate crime harassment charge for an encounter at his hotel during which police say he yelled anti-Semitic epithets.

Young was arraigned Friday and posted a $5,000 bond at a brief hearing in Manhattan court. He faces a misdemeanor aggravated harassment charge. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail.

Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said he expects Young to return to the lineup if he is cleared by the evaluation. That could happen as soon as Monday, he said. Dombrowski would not say if the Tigers were considering any punishment of their own.

“He’s accused of a misdemeanor,” Dombrowski said. “If he’s cleared to play, he will play.”

Dombrowski said that Young was “extremely remorseful, extremely apologetic” about the events of early Friday morning.

Around 2:30 a.m., Young was standing outside the Hilton New York. Nearby, a group of about four Chicago tourists staying at the hotel were approached by a panhandler wearing a yarmulke and a Star of David around his neck, according to police. Afterward, as the group walked up to the hotel doors, Young started yelling anti-Semitic epithets, police said.

It was not clear whom Young was yelling at, but he got into a tussle with the Chicago group, and Jason Schank, 32, of Schamuburg, was tackled and sustained scratches to his elbows, according to police and the criminal complaint.

Shank wasn’t charged, but Young was arrested on a charge of aggravated harassment — a misdemeanor hate crime.

Shank and three companions were entering the hotel after giving $25 to a Jewish panhandler wearing a yarmulke and Star of David.

Young then shouted “(expletive) Jew,” prompting Shank’s group to tell the ballplayer to calm down, police said.
Young allegedly pushed the men and scratched Shank on the arm. The shoving match continued in the lobby before Young went to his room.

Both Young and the group went inside the hotel, and at some point, police were called, and Young was arrested, police said. Young was first taken to a hospital because he was believed to be intoxicated, police said.

Defense attorney Daniel J. Ollen said accounts of the fight have varied. He said there was video, which he hasn’t seen, that showed someone in the other group of people said something to Young before the scuffle.

“I do know that he was in a skirmish, I do know that. Beyond that, I don’t know anything else,” Dombrowski said. “If the allegations are true, they concern me.”

Dombrowski said that “some of the things that were written are inaccurate,” but said he couldn’t say what, specifically, was wrong.

(Source: NBC New York)