GBI completes probe into high school football melee

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By Christopher Seward

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After 135 interviews with coaches, players and fans, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has completed its probe into an Oct. 14 melee that left a high school football coach with serious injuries after he was smashed in the face with a helmet.

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Warren County head coach David Daniel watched his team from the press box the week after the brawl. Daniel hospitalized with head injuries; he has undergone major reconstructive surgery to his face, including crushed bones above and below his eye.

Special to AJC Warren County head coach David Daniel watched his team from the press box the week after the brawl. Daniel hospitalized with head injuries; he has undergone major reconstructive surgery to his face, including crushed bones above and below his eye.

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The east Georgia fight broke out between the Warren County and Hancock Central high school football teams after Warren’s 21-2 win.

According to The Augusta Chronicle, the GBI’s 12-volume findings will be presented to a Hancock County grand jury within the next few weeks. The grand jury will then decide whether anyone will be charged.

The fight broke out after Warren players, coaches and managers headed for the visiting team’s locker room after the game. Their key wouldn't work although it had worked at half time, Warren school officials said.

Warren Superintendent Jean Carey said a group of more than 30 Hancock players attacked Warren players. Warren head coach David Daniel tried to intervene but was "smashed in the face with a helmet," Carey said.

Daniel was hospitalized with head injuries, and he underwent major reconstructive surgery to his face, including crushed bones above and below his eye.

The two teams aren’t strangers, and bad blood between them isn’t new. Their schools are in counties that are adjacent to each other about 100 miles east of Atlanta, near Augusta.