A Georgia basketball referee who was cruelly attacked by a team of players during a tournament at a DeKalb County Church broke his silence on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, a video of the attack went viral on social media, in which multiple players from one team at the game appear to be chasing the referee before knocking him down, punching and kicking him on the floor, and other officials standby without intervening.
Sidney Freeman told Fox5 Atlanta on Wednesday that in his 15 years as a youth basketball referee, he has gotten an earful from coaches, players, fans, and parents, but he’s never been ambushed the way this team of Alabama 8th grade AAU players assaulted him with their coach leading the charge.
Freeman told his side of the story and shared images of his injuries with FOX 5 Atlanta.
A ripped ear and a gash to his head have healed, but he said he’s struggling to understand how the team could behave so violently.
“It is still just shocking. I just can’t see what got them that mad. My first line is, ‘Please, coach, don’t walk up on me.’ And as I said that, I noticed one of the players coming around and he came swinging,” said Freeman.
A DeKalb County spokesperson said 26-year-old Isaiah Graham, the team’s coach, is wanted for misdemeanor battery in the attack.
“My first line is, ‘Coach, please don’t walk up on me, Freeman said. Once I stepped away, I felt swings coming,” he said. “They were pouncing.”
“My first reaction was to move out of their way and back up, but then they were really coming at me. They were pouncing,” Freeman said.
“Of course you don’t want to ruin anybody’s future, but if you commit the crime, you have to pay for the crime that you did. It hurts a little more knowing that if they can get away with it, they may do it again,” said Freeman, who plans to return to the court as referee in the near future.
“I heard the gentleman say we’re gonna get him after the game. ‘We’ll get him after the game he said.’ But I think this warrants a bit more than a misdemeanor because of the premeditated nature. It seems like felony assault, to me,” said Freeman, who still hasn’t refereed a game since the attack.
“I have nothing to say to them,” Freeman said. “It hurt more to know that they got away with it and who knows if they’ll do it again?”
