Little League baseball field in Granite Falls found ripped up by vehicle

GRANITE FALLS, Wash.  --  Little League in Granite Falls is a big deal for little kids. Practice for the new season was supposed to begin Monday -- a chance for kids to brush up and learn new techniques.

But instead, kids here can’t practice and parents say they have to teach their young kids, a very adult lesson.

“I had to explain to them something I never really had to explain before; drivers under the influence, which was kind of weird,” says father Josh Hopp.



Just a few feet from where the kids play catch, tire tracks show where investigators say a suspected drunken driver ripped through the ball field, tearing down fences and cracking through concrete.

League president Bob Swanson says he found the mess early Sunday morning and called 911. Police found a crucial clue—a license plate. And investigators say they ran that plate and matched it to a vehicle that had been impounded by Marysville police earlier that day, after its driver was arrested for suspicion of DUI.

Swanson calculates the damage to be upwards of $8,000.

The league says it’s nonprofit and it’s focusing on coming up with the funds to fix the field as soon as possible, so the kids can begin practice. The league president says it appears insurance will not cover the damage.

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