A high school football coach who was caught on camera striking a player during a game in the stomach has been taken into custody.
The unnamed coach was employed by Mays High School.
The team played Douglas County on Saturday at Eddie S. Henderson Stadium at Midtown High School in Atlanta.
Max Preps: Who is he?
After the sucker punch, junior defensive back Max Preps backed up and appeared to hunch over in pain as the coach yelled.
During the game, a police officer from Atlanta Public School removed the coach from the sidelines and arrested him. According to a spokeswoman, the coach will be charged with simple batter and subject to administrative sanctions.
According to a spokesman for Mays High School, Seth Coleman, “a lay coach for Mays High School, who is not a classroom instructor, is in police custody after an incident that occurred on the sideline during the school’s game this afternoon against Douglas County High School.” The lay coach will be charged with simple battery and subject to district administrative fines.
“The safety and well-being of all APS students remains a high priority for the district, and all APS employees are held to the highest standard of conduct and professionalism,” the statement continued.
Douglas defeated Mays 48–44 in the subsequent non-regional game.
Multiple fights broke out during a football practice for Mays High School two weeks prior.
The incident took place the same weekend that Rush Propst, an ex-high school football coach in Alabama, threw his headset at a player who just so happened to be his son.
Most internet users disapproved of the way the unnamed coach was arrested. “Y’all are so soft,” one fan wrote on Instagram, “he was literally just trying to rough him up.” It’s crazy to arrest for that little tap. If this led to his arrest, my sports coach would almost certainly be sent to Alcatraz for what he did to us.
A supporter who spoke about his own experience with one of his coaches claimed to have gone through more of the same. If he was detained for that love tap, they wrote. I wonder what my coaches would have received—maybe a quick tune-up to get them back on track.
Read more: Family of 4 found dead at Manhattan apartment
