Utah Recreational League Soccer Referee Dies From Attack by 17-year old soccer player

A longtime Utah soccer referee who had been in a coma after being punched by a teenage player unhappy with one of his calls, has died, according to the Associated Press.

At first, it seemed Portillo only suffered minor injuries in the assault, but later at a hospital, doctors discovered he had serious internal head injuries.

He remained in critical condition for a week... Before passing away Saturday night.

Portillo, 46, had developed swelling in his brain and his recovery had been uncertain, Dr. Shawn Smith said on Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.

Police said a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league punched Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.

The teen has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Those charges could now be increased to a murder charge.

The attack Saturday wasn't the first time Portillo has been assaulted by an angry player while referring, his oldest daughter, Johana Portillo, told A.P. He's had his ribs and leg broken before, she said.

Smith declined to speak about what caused the injuries or divulge Ricardo Portillo's prognosis due to the ongoing police investigation. But his daughter, 26, had said earlier in the week her father was on the brink of death.

'I know he didn't, he doesn't want to leave us,' she said at the time, crying. 'We hope for a miracle that he will be ok.'

Johana Portillo wasn't at the Saturday afternoon game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she said she's been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head after he issued the yellow card.

'When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him,' she said.

His friends who were there told her Ricardo Portillo seemed fine at first, but then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. They sat him down and he started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance. The referee has been in a coma since Saturday.

Friday is Ricardo Portillo's youngest daughter's 16th birthday, and the family was planning to leave on vacation Thursday, Johana Portillo said.

'If my dad doesn't make it, we want to make his last wish come true,' Johana Portillo had told A.P.  'To see his family again.'

Now, her father is gone, forever.