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A South Philadelphia High, 2101 S. Broad St., basketball player is still on the mend after being attacked on the way to the team bus last week.
“He’s doing a lot better,” coach George Anderson said Tuesday of junior forward Kyhir Davis. “He’s not back in school yet. He’s getting his work done from home.”
Southern made a late-game comeback by making two foul shots in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter to take a two-point advantage Jan. 18 against Overbrook High School, Anderson said. Southern held on to the 55-53 lead and won the game.
“There was no confrontation in the game,” he said. “There were no technical fouls. We had the regular handshakes after the game.”
However, as the team loaded the bus around 6 p.m., snowballs and punches were thrown by some of their opponents.
Led by the assistant coaches, the Southern players filed from the Overbrook gym to the bus that was parked about 30 yards from the exit. Anderson trailed behind carrying equipment bags, but saw some commotion up ahead.
“I realized it looked like a scuffle in front of the bus,” he said. “It wasn’t a scuffle. It was a group of students assaulting another student in front of the bus and that was Kyhir.”
Davis, a reserve on Southern’s varsity basketball team, was the last student in line, but snowballs were hurled from across the street at him and his teammates as they scurried on the bus. As Davis tried to step aboard, a few students pulled him back and began kicking and punching the 16-year-old, Anderson said. The doors to the bus were closed to prevent anyone else from hopping inside.
“It was very rapid-fire,” he said. “Bang, bang. Everything happened quickly.”
When Anderson caught up, he too was punched in the back of the head, but turned to aid Davis.
“Basically at that time, I kneeled down with Kyhir and realized he was hurt pretty bad,” Anderson said.
Police arrived to disperse the crowd, and Davis, who briefly lost consciousness during the assault, was transported to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where his facial contusions were treated and he received about five stitches near his eye, Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detective Division said.
Four Overbrook students were suspended three to five days for the incident, School District of Philadelphia spokeswoman Shana Kemp said. Three of them were on the basketball team while the fourth was a cheerleader.
No arrests have been made as of press time, but the police are interviewing students, coaches and fans that were in attendance, Walker said.
“We’re still working on identifying the people responsible for the beating,” he said. “We’re hoping to, by the end of the week, have a handle on who committed the crime.”
To report information, call Southwest Detectives at 215-686-3183.
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Also in this week’s Police Report:
Denial reversed
Witness wounded
Nightcap beating
Stickup bagged
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