Five Savannah State football players remain in jail after a judge denied them bond Tuesday in an aggravated assault case. The five are accused of beating up two fellow SSU students last month. A courtroom packed with friends and family of both the alleged victims and the accused watched as several witnesses testified about the night of February 4th. First – victim Carl Gee told Judge Tammy Stokes he recognized the accused as some of those who'd attacked him and a friend that night...two he knew because they had lived in the same hall.
Gee says he and friend Karl Arila were approached as they hung out on campus. He says the players pulled up in a car and asked if he and his friend were good before someone hit him on the back of the head. Gee said the players then jumped on Arila and began stomping him until he fought them off.
Officer Kevin Digou of the Savannah State Police Department testified the two bleeding victims walked into the campus police station to report the attack. He said four of the players were found nearby a short time later. Digou also testified one of the defendants told him he'd gotten a call that one player’s car had been keyed and a group was getting together to "get the guy who they thought did it."
Gee suffered a brain hemorrhage and skull depression, which required surgery. His friend Arila has a broken arm. Despite efforts by the five's defense attorneys to cast doubt on their clients' involvement -Jjudge Stokes ordered all of them held, saying, “I do find that the gentlemen acted in concert - I will deny bond.”
Gee also testified that relatives of one of the players offered a financial settlement if he'd drop the charges...and that he's been threatened by another football player. The Grand Jury will now review the case and decide whether or not to hand down indictments. That could take weeks or months. The five young men will remain in the Chatham County Jail.
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