HS Football Coach Arrested, Loses Certification After Troubling In-Game Incident Is Caught on Camera
A Georgia high school football coach who was arrested after a video appeared to show him punching one of his own players has had his coaching certificate revoked.
Carl Sledge, an assistant coach for Benjamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta, was coaching in a televised game on Saturday, WSB-TV reported.
The team was playing at Douglas County High School when the coach allegedly struck the player.
The video showed him yelling at a student-athlete before he appeared to punch the teen in the stomach.
Mays High School football coach has been fired after being seen punching a player in the stomach during a game this weekend. pic.twitter.com/flXF9PTzcR
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) August 28, 2023
The boy was seen clutching his stomach in apparent pain after the hit.
Sledge was quickly arrested and booked into the Fulton County Jail.
According to People, Sledge was charged with simple battery and spent a night in jail before he posted a $5,000 bond and was released on Sunday.
WSB-TV reported on Wednesday that the Georgia High School Association pulled Sledge’s coaching certificate.
The incident happened during the first quarter of the school’s game against Douglas County High School at Eddie. S Henderson Stadium in midtown Atlanta. https://t.co/Gfes2MgkWi
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) August 30, 2023
The organization did not release a statement about the decision, but the Atlanta ABC affiliate reported Sledge had been previously relieved of his coaching duties.
It is not clear what happened to initiate the suspension.
The school district said Sledge was a volunteer coach and not a classroom teacher.
The student who was allegedly punched was identified by People as junior defensive back Cam’ron Barber, who stands 5’ 8” and weighs 150 pounds.
Sledge was listed on his booking page as standing at 6’ 1” and weighed in at 187 pounds.
The Benjamin E. Mays High School football team has already been accused of rampant abuse of players.
People reported that one parent said, “They work the kids to death… I want to make sure they have done background checks on all the coaches.”
The district had already announced a joint investigation by the Atlanta Public School Police Department and the Atlanta Public Schools Office of Employee Relations “into conduct by coaches of the Benjamin E. Mays High School football team,” regarding a reported incident during the team’s summer training. According to a statement from Atlanta Public Schools, a photo allegedly showed “a coach standing on the knees of players” as they performed a wall-sit exercise.
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