GBI to look into beating of Warren County football coach

By George Mathis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The sheriff of Hancock County has requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into the beating of a visiting high school football coach.

GBI agents met Thursday with Sheriff Tomlyn Primus and Glenn Ingram, chief of the Hancock County Board of Education Police Department, to discuss the case, said GBI spokesman John Bankhead in a press release.

Warren County head coach David Daniel was beaten after Friday night's game in Sparta. He was hospitalized with head injuries and has undergone major reconstructive surgery to his face, including crushed bones above and below his eye.

No arrests have been made, and Daniel has yet to be interviewed, said Primus.

"That's in the process of being done. It should take place no later than Friday," the sheriff said.

"[The investigation] is going to be time consuming," said Primus. "We're going to interview everyone involved, which could be 100 people."

Primus, who declined a request Monday by Warren County Superintendent Jean Carey to get the GBI involved, said he had to make sure his office had a chance to look into the case before asking for the state's assistance.

"At this time, looking at the evidence, a lot of material has materialized," said Primus.

Carey said she saw Daniel being attacked after Hancock’s homecoming game, which Warren County won 21-2.

A group of more than 30 Hancock players attacked Warren players, said Carey. Daniel tried to intervene and was "smashed in the face with a helmet," said Carey.

Daniel has been released from the hospital but is still “shaky,” said Carey, adding that Daniel will need more surgeries on his eye and has lost a tear duct gland.

Daniel will watch Friday night’s game against Washington-Wilkes from the press box, said Carey.

She is pleased the GBI is handling the case.

"I feel the GBI has the staff to do a complete and fair investigation," she said. "In a small town, anything can get politically charged. The sheriff should be relieved the GBI is looking into the case too. We are all hoping something good can come of this and that this sort of thing never happens again."

Warren and Hancock counties are about 100 miles east of Atlanta, south of I-20.