A Wayne man will spend up to 23 months in county jail after pleading guilty to assaulting a 12-year-old boy he forced to run basketball drills for three hours in 90-degree heat last summer.

Edward Marquell Greene, 39, of the 300 block of Trilium Lane, was sentenced Monday, Aug. 10, in Montgomery County Court after pleading guilty to misdemeanor simple assault. Judge Wendy G. Rothstein accepted a plea agreement and ordered Greene to serve six to 23 months in jail, followed by two years of probation consecutive to parole, placing him under court supervision for roughly four years.

Greene must also begin domestic violence and parenting counseling within 30 days of being paroled.

"This child could have been seriously injured as a result of the defendant's actions and his potential failure to act," Assistant District Attorney Anne Caitlyn O'Connell said at the sentencing hearing. "It was an incredibly hot day. He absolutely should have known better than to run this kid to the ground, essentially for three hours, with no break."

The incident occurred July 31, 2025, on basketball courts in the unit block of Haverford Avenue in Narberth, a borough bordering Haverford Township. Greene told police he and the boy arrived around 7:30 a.m. and that he had the child "run drills" for about two hours, according to Mainline Media News.

O'Connell told the court Greene admitted making the boy run for approximately three hours without a break until the child began to lose consciousness. When the boy tried to stop and flee, Greene chased him, punched him and dragged him back to his car.

A Narberth Public Works Department employee told police the boy ran into the borough garage seeking help. Greene followed, threatened the employee and then punched the child in the face, head and chest "like he was a grown man," according to the criminal complaint filed by Narberth Police Officer Michael S. Vernacchio.

Witnesses called Narberth police after spotting a disturbance at a station wagon in the parking lot. Officers found Greene trying to give the unconscious boy a drink in the backseat. The child was breathing but unresponsive. He was transported by ambulance to Bryn Mawr Hospital for possible heat stroke.

Greene, represented by defense lawyer Thomas C. Egan III, apologized before the sentence was imposed. He denied punching the boy and told police he only grabbed the child's arm while trying to discipline him.

As part of the plea deal, charges of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person were dismissed. The nature of Greene's relationship to the boy was described only as the child being "in his care."