After hitting a player on the sideline, a high school football coach in Atlanta was taken into custody. The event happened during the Atlanta high school football game between Douglas County High School and Benjamin E. Mays High School on Saturday.
A Benjamin E. Mays assistant coach punched one of his players in the stomach on the sidelines while the game was being broadcast live on a nearby station, Peachtree TV. The physical altercation caused the player to become bent over.
Carl Sledge was the assistant coach, according to Atlanta News First.
Atlanta Public Schools notified USA Today on Tuesday that Sledge had been detained on accusations of simple violence as a result of the physical attack. According to the Georgia High School Association, Sledge was referred to as a “lay coach,” which is a community coach who is neither employed by the school nor holds any credentials.
In a statement to USA Today, Atlanta Public Schools said that “a lay coach for Mays High School, who is not a classroom instructor, was taken into police custody after an incident that occurred on the sideline during the school’s game against Douglas County High School on Saturday afternoon.” The lay coach is seen in video from the game’s live broadcast brutally hitting a player, according to the report.
The event happened at the conclusion of the first period, with Benjamin E. Mays High School leading Douglas County 12-0. Before punching the player in the stomach, Sledge was heard screaming at him. Sledge was taken off the field by police shortly after the altercation, according to Atlanta News First.
Douglas County defeated Benjamin E. Mays High School 48–42.
