Georgia high school football team investigated after bloody bullying incident caught on video
A Georgia high school has launched an investigation into a locker room fight caught on video by members of a football team after a mother complained her son was bullied.
—Black father and son chased by white man on horse draped in confederate flag and carrying a rope—
A concerned mother reached out to a local station to report that her son, a football player at Roswell High School, had suffered a black eye and a concussion after being bullied into fighting a fellow teammate.
The mother of the boy seen in the video, who asked to remain anonymous, told WSBTV her son was attacked in the Roswell Hornets locker room.
“When he turned around I noticed that he had a black eye,” the mother said. “I asked him what happened, and he said he was surrounded in the locker room and forced to fight.”
The video appears to show two boys surrounded by a group of other players who appear to be egging them on to fight as they scream obscenities.
“Once I saw the video and him egging him to hit him again, calling my son names … putting a camera in my son’s face, a bigger kid was pushing my son,” she said. “My son’s face was very bloody and nobody cared about stopping the fight and just stood there and continued to want the boy to hit on my son.”
She said the fight followed weeks of her son getting bullied by and teased by classmates. The victim’s mother said her son suffered a concussion and since the ordeal, she said her son is afraid to return to school for fear of retaliation.
—Black father shot dead by white man after white supremacist rant—
She said her son now is abandoning his dream to play professional football.
“If you were to ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he’d say NFL player,” she told WSB. “His favorite player is Julio Jones and he wanted to be just like him.”
The Fulton County School system released a statement which was forwarded from Athletics Director, Steven Craft:
“Fulton County Schools is aware of an incident that occurred between two athletes last week at Roswell High School. We are currently investigating the incident. Fulton County Schools will continue to hold our student athletes to the highest standards, and we expect them to always promote great sportsmanship towards their teammates and opponents. We expect our athletes to be leaders on the field, in the classrooms, and in our communities. Failure to comply with these expectations will not be tolerated, and we will continue to hold our athletes accountable to the highest standards.”
