TERRELL, Texas — A 19-year-old Florida man was arrested in Terrell earlier this month for throwing a rock into a Georgia hotel pool — striking and seriously injuring an Indiana high school softball player who was in town for a softball tournament.
TERRELL, Texas — A 19-year-old Florida man was arrested in Terrell earlier this month for throwing a rock into a Georgia hotel pool — striking and seriously injuring an Indiana high school softball player who was in town for a softball tournament.
Police say 19-year-old Michael Lee Royal, of Florida, was also in Douglasville, Georgia, for a basketball tournament when he allegedly threw the rock over the hotel's pool fence and struck 16-year-old Megan Ekart of Indiana.
Ekart suffered a concussion and lacerations that required 17 stitches.
Surveillance video from a nearby hotel led police to a hotel room linked to Royal and several other teammates.
By the time investigators had determined Royal allegedly threw the rock, he was already in Terrell, Texas, where he was enrolled as a freshman at Southwestern Christian College (SWCC).
As soon as SWCC officials were made aware of the allegations, they notified the Terrell Police Department, SWCC Police Commissioner M.L. Terry, Sr. tells inForney.com.
Terrell Police Department Captain A.D. Sansom says upon notification from SWCC of Royal's whereabouts and charges out of Georgia, they made contact with Royal, confirmed the warrants, and arrested him.
Royal was booked into the Kaufman County Jail on charges for aggravated assault and aggravated battery and is awaiting extradition to Georgia.
Terry says Royal was part of a traveling basketball team not affiliated with SWCC and had not started at the college at the time the incident took place. Royal's future enrollment is now dependent on his criminal court proceedings.
In the meantime, Ekart is back in Indiana where she will see a neurologist, pediatrician, and a plastic surgeon as she recovers.
"I’m probably going to have scars on my face the rest of my life," she told WSB-TV. "I don’t understand what makes that enjoyable for someone to throw a rock and ruin someone’s life."