A man who was staying with a Georgia State University student died Sunday morning after getting into a fight with “building security” at an apartment complex where students live, authorities said.
About 6:30 a.m., police responded to 112 Courtland Street after the man, who was not a GSU student, got “into an altercation with building security,” Atlanta police said. The GSU student he was with, Ronald Myers, told Channel 2 Action News the man who died was 24-year-old Deionte “JR” Davis.
Myers said they were among a group of four friends who had been drinking at a birthday party earlier that morning, and they were returning to his apartment. While walking into the apartment building, they began bickering among themselves.
“It was a minor argument among friends that was between us, and it was handled between us,” Myers told the news station.
A security guard for the apartment complex heard the commotion and followed them onto an elevator, he said. That’s when the group began to argue with the security guard, and a fight broke out on Myers’ floor.
“When we got off the elevator, JR walked out of the elevator (by) himself, and (the security guard) still tackled JR,” Myers told Channel 2.
Myers said his girlfriend took video of the incident, which appears to show the security guard hold Davis down while another one of their friends tries to lift him.
Police said Davis was knocked unconscious during the fight. The security guard began to perform CPR until Davis was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died. Investigators said Davis and his friends had been drinking heavily.
The man’s cause and manner of death will be determined by an autopsy, which has yet to be performed. Police told Channel 2 that no one has been charged, but arrests are possible after the autopsy results are released.
The apartment complex, also called One12 Courtland, is located right next to GSU's campus and is advertised as student housing, according to its website.
GSU police Chief Joseph Spillane told AJC.com that his department is not involved in the investigation.
AJC.com has reached out to the apartment complex’s management for more information on this incident and the security guard involved.
— Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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