A video of a heated exchange between two women and a Georgia Tech baseball player has gone viral.
Channel 2′s Audrey Washington has learned what sparked the incident and how Georgia Tech plans to handle the situation.
The confrontation started in the drive-thru of a Cookout restaurant on Northside Drive last Saturday. It ended up with a Georgia Tech baseball player issuing a public apology.
The video shows two women in a heated confrontation with student-athlete Charlie Benson after the woman and her partner said Benson hit their car in the restaurant’s drive-thru.
Benson proceeds to cuss at the women, insult them and deny that he hit them. Much of the tirade appeared to be politically-charged.
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Washington spoke with the woman who recorded the heated confrontation. She wanted to remain anonymous because she’s gotten threats online. She said that while she was in the drive-thru last Saturday, she felt another car bump hers from behind.
She said when she and her partner got out to inspect the damage, Benson got out of his car and started shouting at them.
“Where did it hit? Point to where it hit!” Benson yells in the video. “Get the f*** out of my face! Where’s the mark?”
The women insist he hit their car.
“He hit our car, and now he’s yelling at us,” she says in the video.
“That’s what all the mother*****g liberal a** b*****s say,” Benson yells. “Where did it hit? Point to where it hit!”
The woman said Benson’s reaction scared her.
“The aggression -- the way he was flexing, and the way he was leaning into my partner, it was intimidating,” she said. “It was an act of intimidation, and the attacks he was using were politically charged.”
Days later, Benson issued an apology on the baseball team’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
It reads, in part:
“I sincerely apologize for my behavior during an altercation this past weekend. My immediate reaction to the situation was unacceptable and I am deeply sorry for the impact to those involved – there is simply no excuse.”
Washington asked the woman if she accepts his apology.
“Personally, it doesn’t feel like a genuine apology,” she said. “I want there to be recognition of how damaging this type of behavior can be and how dangerous it can be for marginalized people.”
Washington emailed Georgia Tech about the incident.
In a brief statement, a representative wrote:
“We are continuing to review the situation involving Georgia Tech baseball student-athletes. The language used does not reflect the values of Georgia Tech athletics. Discipline for the student-athletes involved is being handled internally.”
Washington looked up the Georgia Tech athlete’s code of conduct, which states:
“As the Institute’s most visible ambassadors, student-athletes are expected to uphold, at all times, high standards of integrity and behavior that reflect well upon them, their families, coaches, teammates, the Georgia Tech Athletic Association (GTAA), and the Institute.”
Georgia Tech did not release information about how Benson was disciplined.
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