NEWNAN, Ga. — A University of Georgia student has been charged with battery after police said he allegedly attacked a high school runner during a cross country race in Newnan, last week, an incident authorities and witnesses described as bizarre and creepy.
Aiden Dombrowski was arrested following the Coweta Cup, a cross country meet featuring runners from all three Coweta County high schools, according to a FOX 5 Atlanta report citing Newnan police and body-camera footage.
Police said Dombrowski graduated last year from Northgate High School, where he was a cross country runner, and now attends the University of Georgia.
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According to the report, Dombrowski told officers he drove from Athens to Newnan on Friday night and slept in his car before the Saturday morning race. Police said he wore an East Coweta High School jersey despite having previously attended Northgate.
Witnesses and the runner who was allegedly attacked told investigators that Dombrowski had rocks in his hand when he punched a Newnan High School runner as competitors passed his location during the race, the report said.
The runner fought back during the confrontation.
Dombrowski was later seen with blood on his face and a gash above his right eye. Police called an ambulance to treat him at the scene before he was taken into custody and charged with battery.
Body-camera footage released by police showed officers questioning Dombrowski about whether he knew the runner.
“So you don’t know that kid at all?” an officer asked.
“I know him. I’m not friends with him,” Dombrowski responded, adding that there was “no bad blood” between them and describing the two as acquaintances.
Dombrowski told officers the incident was intended as a prank and denied striking the runner, according to the report. However, police said witness accounts and the alleged victim’s statement differed from his version of events.
Authorities were examining the circumstances surrounding the incident, including what led Dombrowski to travel from Athens to the high school meet and wear another school’s jersey.
Lt. Josh Jordan with the Newnan PD believes there had to be some motive to the situation: “because a person doesn’t normally wake up and decide to drive two and a half, three hours away to a high school cross country match, put on an opposing team’s jersey, and then attack a student from the woods.”
A Coweta County spokesman described the episode as “bizarre,” while a spectator who attended the meet compared it to something “out of Netflix.”
