Utah soccer referee punched by player dies, police say

MURRAY, Utah –  A Utah soccer referee who was critically injured and in a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game died Saturday night, police said.

Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City  passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following an assault during a soccer game last weekend, Unified police spokesman Justin Hoyal said.

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

"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Hoyal said in a press release.

The teen has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault.

Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since Portillo has died.

He said an autopsy is planned.

Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.

The victim's family, which publicly spoke of Portillo's plight this past week, has asked for privacy as they deal with his loss, Hoyal said.

Last week, Johana Portillo, 26, spoke about her father's condition. She said that she wasn't at the April 27 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.

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Tax bite sacks Flacco's status as NFL's highest-paid player

Not so fast, Joe Flacco — the Baltimore Raven might not be NFL’s highest-paid player after all.

The Super Bowl XLVII MVP and the Ravens agreed to a six-year, $120.6 million contract this week, earning the New Jersey native an estimated $20.1 million per year. But being the highest paid player and earning the most after taxes are two very different things, according to Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington-based organization that advocates a single, flat-rate income tax.

In selecting to remain with Baltimore, Flacco is now set to pay a combined marginal income tax rate of 51.98 percent, comprised of federal, Maryland and Baltimore County income tax rates, as well as the Medicare tax. And that doesn’t even include the so-called “jock tax,” or Flacco’s liability for games played out of state and other taxes levied against him, including Maryland’s property tax.

Had Flacco sought a contract in states like Florida, Tennessee and Texas, he would have saved $1.72 million on the total marginal tax liability, according to Americans for Tax Reform.

“Flacco may have the distinction of being the highest paid player in NFL history, but New Orleans Saints’ QB Drew Brees still earns more after-tax pay,” the organization said in a news release.

Brees’ contract, which was signed before last season, is a five-year, $100 million deal that pays roughly $20 million per season. But after applying the marginal combined tax rate of 49.4 percent to the quarterback’s contract, Brees stands to make $470,000 more after-tax pay than Flacco, the newly crowned “highest paid player” of the NFL.

“Consider how much more Brees will earn if Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal successfully eliminates the Pelican State’s income tax,” the release continues. “Don’t be surprised if players begin to consider their tax liabilities even more now when making the decision of which team to ultimately sign with.”

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