Basketball referee attacked by coach, 8th-grade team shares images of his injuries

ATLANTA - A basketball referee attacked on a viral video during a tournament at a DeKalb County church broke his silence on Wednesday. 

A video initially posted by TMZ shows several players on an Alabama eighth-grade basketball team swarm referee Sidney Freeman at the end of a game. They punch and kick him while he is on the ground, and other officials standby without intervening. 

In his 15 years as a youth basketball referee, Sidney Freeman has gotten an earful from coaches, players, fans and parents, but he's never been ambushed the way this team of Alabama 8th grade AAU players assaulted him with their coach leading the charge.

Freeman told his side of the story and shared images of his injuries with FOX 5 Atlanta. 

A ripped ear and a gash to his head have healed, but he said he's struggling to understand how the team could behave so violently.

"It is still just shocking. I just can't see what got them that mad. My first line is, 'Please, coach, don't walk up on me.' And as I said that, I noticed one of the players coming around and he came swinging," said Freeman. 

A DeKalb County spokesperson said 26-year-old Isaiah Graham, the team's coach, is wanted for misdemeanor battery in the attack.

WARNING: This gallery contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised. 

Freeman said the coach led the charge.

"My first line is, ‘Coach, please don’t walk up on me,'" Freeman said.

He noticed a player run around the scrum and take a swing. 

"Once I stepped away, I felt swings coming," he said. "They were pouncing."

At 6-feet-5-inches tall and weighing 245 pounds, Freeman said he did not want to fight the kids, but had no choice but to defend himself with the one swing that left one boy on the floor and five to six other boys punching and kicking the ref along with their coach.

"My first reaction was to move out of their way and back up, but then they were really coming at me. They were pouncing," Freeman said. 

After received two staples to close a deep head wound and 25 stitches to close a ripped ear, Freeman said it's still hard to comprehend how the April 3 attack inside Stronghold Church in DeKalb County only amounts to a misdemeanor battery warrant for Graham's arrest. 

"Of course you don't want to ruin anybody's future, but if you commit the crime, you have to pay for the crime that you did. It hurts a little more knowing that if they can get away with it, they may do it again," said Freeman, who plans to return to the court as referee in the near future.

A tournament organizer told FOX 5 that Graham coached Dream Team Elite in Alabama. DeKalb County police issued the arrest warrant April 19, nearly three weeks after the attack. 

"I heard the gentleman say we're gonna get him after the game. 'We'll get him after the game he said.' But I think this warrants a bit more than a misdemeanor because of the premeditated nature. It seems like felony assault, to me," said Freeman, who still hasn't refereed a game since the attack.

Freeman said he no words for the coach or the referees who didn't intervene during the attack. As far as the young players are concerned, he said there should be consequences as well.

"I have nothing to say to them," Freeman said. "It hurt more to know that they got away with it and who knows if they'll do it again?"

Investigators said the incident is still under investigation.