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An investigation has been started after a Georgia youth football coach was seen on video striking one of his players twice during a timeout, police said Thursday.
The incident occurred on the Savannah Gators 7U team, from Georgia, at the American Youth Football Championships, which were being held in Kissimmee, Fla. The video surfaced Tuesday on Facebook and began to make the rounds on social media.
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The video showed Gerrel Williams on the sideline hitting the player in the helmet twice, with the last strike knocking the player into the ground. Williams was identified by the Chatham County, Ga. Sheriff's Office. Authorities said Williams was removed from the detention center as a counselor.
"CCSO reviewed the video and we are very disturbed by the actions of Mr. Gerrel Williams," Chatham County Sheriff's John T. Wilcher said in a statement. "The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office does not condone this behavior. As of Dec. 10, 2020, he is no longer an employee of the CCSO. Mr. Williams was not a deputy; he was a counselor in the detention center."
After a social media outcry, the Savannah Police Department released a statement on the incident.
“Over the past two days we have received numerous messages on social media regarding the actions of a Savannah-area youth football coach that was caught on video and has been shared widely on social media,” the police wrote on Facebook.
“We thank you all for passing along this information for our detectives to look into. We want to assure everyone that we did immediately look into this and quickly learned that this incident occurred while the team was out of town. After contacting the police department in the city the team was at when the incident occurred, we learned that their detectives had already begun investigating the coach's actions. Once again, we thank you all for contacting SPD and ask you to continue to contact the department anytime you see anything in this city that needs officer attention.”
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In the wake of the incident, the team’s Facebook page reportedly posted an apology, but the entire account has since been deleted.
“Please keep the negative comments off this page please this organization has great coaches we understand what we all saw yesterday was disturbing to us all but let’s not blame everyone for one mans actions,” the apology reportedly read. “The organization is not at Nationals we have only 2 age groups a National 7U & 9U with only those coaches of those age groups witch [sic] the guy in the video is our 9U head coach he is a good guy that just took it a little to [sic] far on a 9U player we understand and we are aware of what’s going on and will like to apologize to the #BigPeachConference…”
The coach allegedly involved in the incident is said to have issued an apology in a Facebook Live video posted on a woman’s account.
“I’m gonna apologize for my actions … At the end of the day, I am a man. I aint gonna make no excuses for what I did. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have disciplined him … hit him in public. I shoulda waited ‘til we got back. At the end of the day, I apologize to him, the kids, the city … and my family back at home. I do apologize. There’s no excuse for my actions. He forgave me and his parents have forgiven me, so nobody else should be bashing me,” the coach said.
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The video drew sharp rebuke on social media, including LeBron James who wrote on his Instagram Stories "Ain't no way!! Couldn't be my kid. Hell if i there [sic] and it's not even my kid we gone have more than words for sure."
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The AYF said in a statement to Fox News that Williams received a "lifetime ban."
"Earlier this week, AYF tournament officials were provided with cell phone video of a 9U coach - Gerrell Williams - behaving in complete breach of the AYF Code of Conduct," the statement read. "The video was provided to AYF the morning after the incident and was turned over to the Osceola County Sheriff. AYF issued Gerrell Williams a lifetime ban from the organization and any of its events, including the 2020 National Championships. The team has since played additional games in the tournament, and Jerrell Williams is prohibited from entering the venue."
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