Last weekend’s Coweta Cup Cross Country Championship meet in Newnan, Ga., took a terrifying turn when a man emerged from the woods mid-meet and attacked an East Coweta High School runner.
According to 11Alive, the man emerged from the woods, wearing an East Coweta cross-country jersey, and carrying rocks. He charged the victim, pushed him to the ground and hit him, then fled the scene when the victim fought back.
Police were called to the meet at eight in the morning after receiving reports of the assault. Shortly after they arrived, the assailant turned himself in to Newnan Police officers in a nearby parking lot. They found the cross-country jersey in his car and confirmed his identity as 19-year-old University of Georgia student, Aiden Dombrowski. He is not a current or former student at East Coweta High School, but he did previously attend Newnan High School and was a member of that school’s cross-country team.
Dombrowski was charged with battery and booked into the Coweta County Jail. Police discovered that Dombrowski drove from UGA on Friday night, waiting in his car for the race to begin. The New York Post reported that body camera footage captured Dombrowski’s initial conversation with police in which he denied attacking the runner, called the incident a prank, and claimed to know the victim.
“So you don’t know that kid at all,” one officer asked Dombrowski, according to body camera footage.
“I know him, I’m not friends with him,” the suspect replied. “No bad blood. Acquaintances.”
No further statements on the incident have been released by Newnan Police Officers as the investigation is ongoing.
