‘Slit their throats’: Ex-Palo Verde baseball coach accused of verbal abuse

Former Palo Verde High School baseball coach Dustin Romero was accused of verbally abusing his team — including saying he would slit his players’ throats — leading to an altercation with a parent, according to public records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The records provide a likely explanation for why Romero and star player Ethan Clauss, an LSU signee, suddenly left the team in May as the Panthers started the defense of their Class 5A state championship.

Witness statements to CCSD police from Romero and 10 unidentified Palo Verde baseball players, obtained by the Review-Journal, acknowledged the April 30 incident involving the parent. No one was arrested or cited in connection with the altercation.

The statements from the players alleged previous inappropriate comments made by Romero to the team, including that he would “slit their throats” and punch an unidentified player in the face.

The names of the students were redacted in all documents obtained by the Review-Journal.

Romero led Palo Verde to the 2024 Class 5A state title in his first year as the Panthers’ coach, but was not with the team in May during the 5A Southern Region playoffs. At the time, the school said Romero was “not coaching the team right now” but did not provide a reason for his absence.

The Panthers failed to advance to the 2025 state tournament.

The Clark County School District communications office said in an email last week that Romero “no longer serves” as Palo Verde’s baseball coach but is still employed by the school as a teacher.

Palo Verde administrators referred questions related to the police report about the April 30 incident with the parent to CCSD communications, which didn’t respond.

When contacted by text message, Romero said to direct any questions to the Palo Verde principal’s office and CCSD communications.

Postgame incident

According to a CCSD police report, Romero and a parent had a verbal altercation in the dugout after Palo Verde’s game April 30 at Arbor View High School

The report says a Palo Verde baseball player told his father the coach “said something inappropriate to the players.” An email sent from Romero to Palo Verde Principal Lisa Schumacher says the parent was Josh Clauss.

Josh Clauss declined to comment for this story.

Palo Verde shortstop Ethan Clauss was not with the team for the playoffs. Interim coach Charlie Cerrone said after Palo Verde’s playoff opener May 6 that Clauss was “not around right now” and declined to say why he was not with the team.

According to the report, a campus security monitor at Arbor View “went to the dugout and had to get in between the parent and the coach” when the parent approached the dugout. The monitor told the parent that he could not be in the dugout and asked the coach if he was OK.

The parent “walked up to the Palo Verde players and asked what was said,” the report said. “The players verified that the coach said ‘they were stupid and that he would slit their throats.’” The coach denied saying that, and the monitor said Romero was “calm” the entire time, according to the report.

That night, a CCSD officer went to Romero’s home to discuss the incident.

Romero told the officer that after exiting the dugout, the parent shouted, “kids are saying you’re using racial slurs and talking about slitting throats.”

In Romero’s witness statement to CCSD police, he claims a parent entered the dugout after the Arbor View game and was “upset with alleged comments made to his son that I was going to ‘punch’” the player in the face.

‘Why do we coach?’

According to the police report from the visit to Romero’s house and his witness statement, Romero said he became upset during the game at Arbor View when a player questioned the third-base coach’s decision to stop a runner at third instead of trying to score.

After the player questioned from the dugout why the runner didn’t score, Romero said he asked, “Why do we coach? You got it all figured out, and you’re the best. You can go coach third base.”

Multiple statements from players support the claim that a player asked from the dugout why a runner was held at third base, but the statements allege Romero cussed at the player. One player wrote that Romero said, “You think (you’re) hot s—-” in response to the player and that the two “kept going back and forth.”

Another player wrote that Romero told the player: “Maybe because we’re down 4 (runs) with 2 outs. Do you wanna go coach f——— third base (name redacted) because you have it all f——— figured out, dude. You think (you’re) hot s—-.”

During the police visit to his house, Romero showed a text message he sent to Palo Verde Athletic Director Joe Aznarez regarding the altercation.

The text message reads: “I’m going to imagine you’re going to get a call from (redacted). He confronts me in the dugout after our game asking me, ‘Why am I talking s—- to his kid, telling his kid that I’m going to punch him in the face?’ and he heard it from (redacted) and (redacted). Which me and the coaches know I would never say that to him. (Redacted) was upset because in the 7th (assistant coach Tyler Hallead) holds up (redacted) at 3B and he goes ‘Why?!’ and I turn to (redacted) and say we are down 5-1 and (redacted) is running. (Redacted) goes palms up and I said ‘I don’t even know why we coach when you guys got it all figured out. You’re the best, you should coach 3rd.’ He walked away upset.”

Romero claims in an email to Schumacher sent the following day that Josh Clauss “entered the 1st base dugout and directly confronted me about speaking to his child. Mr. Clauss aggressively approached and stated ‘Are you talking s—- to my kid?’ I responded with ‘no.’ Mr. Clauss then questioned if I had told his son, ‘I’m going to punch you in the face.’ I responded with, ‘no.’”

Romero adds in the email that an assistant coach “responded with, ‘no’” when Clauss asked if Romero made those remarks toward his son before campus security at Arbor View entered the dugout. Romero says he told the security monitor that assistance wasn’t needed.

Claims of verbal abuse

Multiple players’ statements claim Romero told the team that he would “slit” their throats and punch an unidentified player in the face. Multiple players say the threat to slit throats was directed multiple times toward the team and at individual players if a mistake was made during Romero’s tenure.

“Sometime after a game which we lost in the summer, Romero said that we made him want to snap a broomstick in half and stab us all in the throats,” one player wrote. “This was directed at the whole team.”

A different player wrote: “During a practice in the summer Romero said things like he wants to break a broomstick and stab all of us. Also said when we lose he wants to go home and beat his wife.”

A different player wrote: “When he told the kid that he will slit his throat he seemed serious and said it with a straight face. I don’t think he would have actually done it, but he did say it with a straight face.”

A different player wrote: “There was an instance this summer where we lost a game and Romero was angry. He told the team he was going to break a broom that was next to him and stab us all in the throat. I know that he would never act on these threats, his anger just easily flares up and he lashes out. But what he has been saying has gone too far as of late.”

A different player claimed Romero “would make kids feel verbally abused by saying (they’re) fat or racial comments.” The player also detailed his feelings after a teammate told him Romero had said he was going to punch the player in the face.

“The comment he said to my teammate (name redacted) made me feel completely disrespected and made me not respect (Romero) anymore,” the player wrote. “I’ve given my all playing for this team and he wants to go and make an abusive threat to me behind my back.

“It made me never want to play for that coach again.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.