A 16-year-old University High School football player is recovering after an ambiguous incident late Friday night at the BREC Perkins Road Community Skate Park left him in a medically induced coma.
Though the Baton Rouge Police Department said the investigation is ongoing, one fact has been confirmed – D’Vante Dotson had alcohol in his system. But speculation has run rampant on Twitter and Facebook about Dotson meeting teammates who possibly beat him into a comatose state.
“We’re still investigating, but at this point we have no evidence to believe he was assaulted,” said Baton Rouge Police Spokesman Lt. Don Kelly. “All signs point to he voluntarily consumed a mass amount of alcohol and fell on his head on the concrete, and that was the cause of his injuries.”
Carolyn Dotson, the high schooler’s grandmother, told nola.com her grandson was “doing a lot better, and he’s able to get up and walk around with the help of his mother.”
Dotson was supposed to have a CT scan Wednesday morning.
A Facebook page created Tuesday and numerous tweets support the rumor that teammates beat up Dotson, with a group of tweets compiled on neverjaded.com chronicling the evening.
Tweets on the website indicate that Dotson arrived at the skate park after being called to meet “three of his white teammates.”
“When he arrived he was attacked in the bathroom and beaten with bottles and a bat,” @Fresh_Logic tweeted.
Kelly said that while the department cannot comment on specific cases involving specific juveniles, the investigation is ongoing.