Father charged in threat vs. coach

The father of a Millis Middle School baseball player, upset over his son's lack of playing time, threatened to kill the coach yesterday, prompting officials to lock down three local schools on Friday until the man was arrested, police said.

William Santafe, 46, of Westborough, was arraigned in Wrentham District Court yesterday afternoon on charges of assault with intent to commit a felony and threats to kill, said Millis police Detective Domenic Tiberi. Santafe was released on $500 bail last night.

Tiberi said Santafe was particularly angry that the Millis High School freshmen baseball coach, who is also a Millis elementary school teacher, inserted a pinch hitter for his son, an eighth-grader who plays on the freshman team, during a game on Thursday. Santafe made the threats in a telephone conversation with Millis athletic director Chuck Grant, the detective said.

''He actually said, 'He's [expletive] dead,' and said, 'Now I'm going to do something about it,' " Tiberi said.

He said Santafe also tried to reach the coach, whom police declined to identify, by phone at the elementary school, but did not speak with him.

Not knowing the father's whereabouts, school officials and local police placed the town's elementary, middle, and high schools on lockdown, meaning no one could enter or exit the buildings, Tiberi said. The middle and high schools share the same complex. Several police officers were deployed to the buildings as a precaution.

Millis Middle School principal Andrew Zitoli said school officials had crafted plans, outlined in a handbook, for how to handle security threats about six years ago, following several high-profile school shootings elsewhere. The lockdown did not interfere with activities for the approximately 1,200 students in the district, he said.

''We just live in an age now where you just can't take these things lightly, and we're just trying to protect everyone involved," Zitoli said. The lockdown was put in place at about 9 a.m. and ended at about 1:30 p.m., when police located Santafe at the paving company where he works and he came into the station to surrender, Tiberi said.

Tiberi said Santafe denied that he threatened to kill the coach.

''He's not very thrilled with the way his son is being coached and the amount of playing time," Tiberi said.

A person who answered the phone at Santafe's home last night said Santafe was not there, and declined comment.

Before Santafe was arrested, Zitoli said, a message about the situation was posted on the school system's website for parents, and teachers communicated about the lockdown via e-mail.

Donna Cabibbo, chairwoman of the Millis School Committee, said she thought the measures taken by authorities yesterday were a good reason why the security plan was adopted.

''I was at the school during the day today with my elementary school child, and I felt that the actions they took were appropriate," she said.

Selectman Paul Jacobsen said he was pleased with the way police took control of the situation.

''In this day and age, you can't just say whatever comes to mind, and unfortunately because of the situations that have occurred throughout the country, we have to take it very seriously," he said.

Many parents and officials said last night they didn't believe there was ever a serious danger.

Of the situation that allegedly stemmed from a father's reaction to what happened in a ball game, Christopher Gove, a School Committee member who has a son in the high school and a daughter in the middle school, said, ''Oftentimes, the kids have better perspective of what's going on than their parents do."

Scott Goldstein can be reached at sgoldstein@globe.com.