Reports from Atlanta-area news outlets claim that an enormous brawl during an AAU girls basketball event left one athlete with a concussion after some 40 people — players and parents — became embroiled in a massive brawl.
As reported by Atlanta CBS affiliate WSB and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the brawl unfolded at Langston Hughes High School in Fairburn, where an AAU tournament was being held. In the fourth quarter of a tight game between a local team from Cobb County, Ga. and an opponent from Texas, 13-year-old Jamiah Gregory had her leg held by an opponent. The foul reportedly drew an adult from the stands, which then escalated into a scary situation, per one parent who witnessed the brawl.
“It was complete chaos,” parent Crystal Henderson told WSB. “I’ve never seen anything like this. … The spectators in the stands were actually jumping in on this kid.”
That kid was Gregory, who was transported to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and diagnosed with a concussion as a result of the fracas. Based on Gregory’s own memory of the incident, it’s almost a surprise she wasn’t more seriously hurt.
“(People were) Like, hitting me in the head and bashing it to the ground, like that, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh,'” Gregory said. “So, like everyone from their team stormed out on the court, and was, like, kicking me and making my head go into the ground.”
Some who witnessed the attack say it was precisely that bedlam that made them feel someone should have been charged in the attack. Instead, local police are now investigating, but the opposing team from Texas has long since left the state, leaving some to wonder whether justice will ever truly be served.
“I felt like they did not need to leave the state of Georgia acting like that and think it’s OK,” Henderson told WSB.