Colleagues of ref attacked at DeKalb basketball game angered by lack of charges
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - Video of a basketball referee ambushed, kicked and pummeled by an 8th-grade team at a Lithonia church has gone viral.
Referee Sidney Freeman suffered a serious gash to the head that required stitches. Weeks later, Dewayne Fisher, the head of Anytime Sports Officials, said the ref for nearly 15 years still hasn't returned to the court.
"This is happening more and more, people don't like game is called, beat up on a referee," Fisher said.
The coach of Alabama squad, Dream Team Elite, reportedly told him players to go over and jump on the referee after losing a game at Stronghold Church in DeKalb County.
The ref's colleagues say they're still disgusted when they see the video that went viral on TMZ and other sites.
"Who teaches their kids to go out and beat up a ref? But this is something we see all the time and this is something that has to stop," Fisher said.
Fisher says Sidney Freeman and other referees are also frustrated those involved in the attack were not charged with assault.
"I know how we do, if I had been with Sid, that wouldn't have happened. Everybody should've stopped it," Fisher said.