Charlotte teen tells police players assaulted him after football game at rival school
A South Mecklenburg High School student reported that a “group of players” assaulted him after attending a football game hosted by a rival school last week, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
Jackson Cooper, 18, will have surgery on Tuesday to fix the broken nose he sustained during the assault on the Myers Park High School campus, his mother, Mindy Cooper, told the Observer on Friday.
“My boy is 5-foot-11, he weighs 145 pounds, he had no chance,” Cooper said. “He’s a lover, he’s not a fighter.”
The assault happened at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 22, following the game at the school, 2400 Colony Road, according to a police incident report.
Police listed the teenager’s injuries as “minor,” but Mindy Cooper said it wasn’t a minor incident.
In a video posted on Twitter on Oct. 28, a number of people wearing Myers Park football gear can be seen shouting profanity and charging at another group of people. An individual in a white tank top, who Cooper identified as her son, can be seen leaving the area with a bloody nose.
“We are aware of an altercation that occurred,” a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools spokeswoman told the Observer in an email Friday. “It is an ongoing investigation.”
The police report classified the offense as a “simple assault.” Charges have not been filed yet because security footage of the incident is grainy, and Jackson doesn’t know which players assaulted him, Cooper said.
Cooper said her son may have been “running his mouth,” but that doesn’t excuse the players from doing what they did.
The assault sparked other altercations across the campus, including a brawl in the middle of a roadway, she said.
“It was just nothing I’ve ever seen before at a high school game,” said Cooper, who attended the game with her husband and daughter.
Cooper said a school resource officer told her that four separate incidents happened the night of the game, including one that injured an elderly woman.
“I want something to be done, that was not a safe campus,” she said.
The address for Myers Park High School appears on five police reports for non-aggravated assaults since Aug. 1, according to data from CrimeMapping.com. Two more assaults were reported at nearby Alexander Graham Middle School, the crime-tracking site shows.
The assault report, and other came after South Meck’s 3-0 win over the Mustangs, who entered the game ranked No. 4 in the Observer Sweet 16. The then-No. 15 Sabres had not defeated Myers Park in seven years, having been outscored 144-6 in their three previous meetings.
Staff writer Langston Wertz contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 4:03 PM.
