Kirbyville Police Chief Paul Brister announced Tuesday that the department has closed an investigation and no criminal charges will be filed in relation to allegations of over disciplining by coaches at Kirbyville High School.
It began in mid-March when a parent alleged that coaches - one in particular â were abusing student-athletes in the weight room. The parent noted that the alleged abuse was not discipline for improper behavior, but rather punishment for not being able to lift enough weight or improperly lifting weight.
In a prepared statement, Brister wrote âAfter a lengthy investigation into the report of injury to a child, stemming from a complainant against personnel within the Kirbyville Consolidated Independent School District, it has been determined after close contact and conversations between the Kirbyville Police Department, the Jasper County District Attorneyâs Office, and the parents of the victim, that no criminal charges will be filed and the inves
What is going on is not clear, but what is obvious is that a large number of students within the Kirbyville Consolidated Independent School District apparently walked out Tuesday morning in protest.
The protest reportedly began when students learned that the principal of the Kirbyville High School, Holli Farias, had been fired. However, the Superintendent of Schools, Georgia Sayers, said that was not true.
Sayers said she could not discuss the matter because it involved personnel. However, she did say that no one had been terminated.
The protest, which involved an estimated 65 to 75 students of the High School, apparently began at the school on Highway 96 and then moved to the school s administration building on Main Street where many chanted Bring her back. However, the protest on Main Street broke up shortly after Kirbyville Police arrived and encouraged everyone to calm down.
A man accused of shooting another man in Kirbyville on Monday afternoon has been released on bond from the Jasper County Jail, while the man who was shot has now been released from a hospital.
56-year-old George Hardy Manchac, of Kirbyville, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Mike Smith had set his bond at $75,000.00.
Manchac is accused of shooting 31-year-old Chase Davis in the back. It occurred next to the Dover Exxon Jiffy Market in the 400 block of Highway 96. Davis was flown to a Beaumont hospital where he underwent emergency treatment.
Jasper County Criminal District Attorney Anne Pickle says that if all goes as planned, she expects to soon take a man to trial who is accused of causing another manâs death.
In May of 2017, 22-year-old Jacob Hunter Gentry died in a Houston hospital about a week after he was involved in a disturbance. Kirbyville Police Chief Paul Brister said it happened in the 100 block of West Trout Street, and ended with Hunter being struck and ran over by a vehicle.
Brister said the argument between the two men was over a woman.
Since that time, the man who is accused of being at the wheel of the vehicle has been indicted by the Jasper County Grand Jury on two charges. Todd Ross Whitehead, 24, of Kirbyville, is charged with Manslaughter, and also Accident Causing Death.