Waco, TX (FOX 44) — A referee is under investigation after a viral video shows him ripping a player’s helmet off at the Whitney versus Dallas Madison football game on Friday.
The football player David Haynes III was immediately ejected from the game. He is the son of the Whitney High School head coach.
The game started out perfectly normal for Trey Haynes and his wildcat teammates until a seemingly routine defensive play rapidly got out of hand. He bumped into the official and the official pulled his helmet, and pulled his helmet all the way off.
Coach David Haynes II says the official told him his son maliciously bumped into him, “I was like, ‘sir, there’s no way that he did that,’ and then he said, ‘yes, it was maliciously,’ and then he had ejected him from the game.”
Haynes didn’t think anything of the play until after the game when he saw the full incident on tape and was left speechless, “It upset and angered me, especially as a coach and as a parent, because I wouldn’t want that to happen to anybody, and just to just to see how it was, it hurt my heart.”
Haynes says there was no communication between him and the official before the incident occurred. Up until Friday, Whitney’s football team hadn’t committed a personal foul. Haynes doesn’t want to punish the official but wants him to respect the game.
“My main concern is that my son doesn’t get suspended for the next football game. He’s a senior. He’s having a good year. He’s got a couple of football offers, a national honor society, a 3.8 GPA, well-spoken kid. He was raised the right way. so I don’t want I don’t want his name to be tarnished through this stuff, and we’ll just go from there,” said Haynes.
After we spoke with Haynes, the University Interscholastic League decided to reverse Trey’s game ejection. The sports official has also been removed from officiating any games until the investigation is complete.
In response, Coach Haynes thanked the league for what they do for students in Texas. Trey also responded saying he won’t make this situation a distraction for Whitney’s next game this Friday.
