CENTRAL — D.W. Daniel High basketball coach Terrance Anthony “Tony” Christie was arrested Monday, charged with second degree assault and battery against a female student during a school day.
According to arrest warrants from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, officers believe Christie offered or attempted to injure a 16-year-old student by non-consensual touching of her buttocks on Oct. 25.
According to Assistant Sheriff Tim Morgan, Christie turned himself in to authorities and was arrested Monday before being released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
The victim, a DHS student and former teaching assistant of Christie, according to incident reports, said the 33-year-old coach allegedly touched her buttocks and tried to touch her breast. The report also alleges that Christie told the girl to touch his penis.
According to the report, school officials had access to text messages between the victim and another student detailing the allegations.
In the report, the victim’s mother said that her daughter “worshipped” Christie, and he was “all her daughter talked about when she came home.” A week before the alleged incident however, the girl stopped talking about the coach to her mother and “she did not want to go to school (on the day of the alleged incident)” the report said.
When questioned by deputies about the incident, Christie denied touching the girl.
Efforts to reach school district officials Tuesday afternoon were unsuccessful, but district communications director Julie Thompson released a statement two weeks ago after Christie was initially placed on administrative leave prior to the Daniel basketball team’s first game.
“As is the district’s general practice, when appropriate, employees are placed on administrative leave,” the statement read. “This typically occurs when allegations or concerns have been brought to the administration’s attention. Presently, an employee is on administrative leave while an inquiry is being conducted. While the inquiry is underway, additional public comment is not appropriate.”
Since the season began, junior varsity coach Billy Gibson has been in charge of the Daniel boys’ team. Christie, a former standout for the Clemson Tigers from 1995-1999, was hired over the summer as Daniel head coach after former coach Jeff Maness left to coach at his alma mater, Berea.
Morgan explained the extended timeframe of the investigation to the Courier Tuesday evening.
“This is not an unusual amount of time between this reported case and the signing of a warrant,” he said. “We want to be as accurate and as thorough as possible in our investigation before filing charges against anyone. These type things affect a lot of lives, so it’s extremely important not to get in a rush, but to get it as right as we can and to get as many accurate facts as we can to proceed on to court.”