Warren County High School football star Rickie King was among two men arrested on felony charges early Sunday morning outside a Cookeville nightclub after they reportedly beat a woman so badly she had to be airlifted.
According to Cookeville Police Department, King, 18, and Tomas Santiago, 21, were arrested for an incident that also included gunshots outside Wooly’s Clubhouse in Cookeville. It happened Sunday morning around 3 a.m.
King, a WCHS senior, has made $50,000 bond on the single charge of aggravated assault and was released from Putnam County Jail on Sunday.
Santiago, his brother, was still in jail Tuesday morning on $215,000 bond. He is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, one count of reckless endangerment, one count of possession of a controlled substance, and one count of introducing contraband into a penal institution.
“It was your typical bar fight that spills into the parking lot,” said Cookeville Police Capt. Carl Sells. “There were people everywhere, people running, people bloody. It was a chaotic scene.”
King was back at school Tuesday and admitted he shouldn’t have put himself in that situation, but says he plans to take responsibility and move on.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I’m not a monster like the story in the Cookeville paper makes me out to be,” said King. “I had been inside shooting pool all night and we had gone outside when the nightclub closed. I was trying to separate my brother from a fight and this woman, she was a dyke. She was big and dressed like a man. I would never lay my hands on a woman, but I had no way of knowing she was a woman. Things got crazy and punches were flying and I was the only one there who was sober. I got hit twice and was almost jumped. I got scared and was just trying to defend myself. I can’t believe it escalated the way it did.”
The altercation went from verbal to physical when Santiago was reportedly seen getting a gun from his car. Two women witnessed him retrieving the gun and one of them tried to take a picture of his license plate with her cellphone.
Police say King and Santiago converged on the woman with one of them taking away her cellphone. The other woman tried to get the cellphone back and that’s when she was beaten as a full-scale fight erupted.
When nightclub bouncers realized what was happening, they tried to restore order. That’s when Santiago reportedly pointed the gun at several people before firing two rounds in the air.
Santiago and King fled the scene before police arrived. They were arrested a few blocks away.
Officers discovered Santiago in possession of several baggies of a white, powdery substance believed to be cocaine, as well as a number of white pills. He was found with another bag at the jail.
In updating the victim’s condition Tuesday morning, Capt. Sells said she has been released from the hospital.
King was a standout football player for the Pioneers, finishing as the team’s leading rusher this season. In his final game, a playoff loss to Maryville, King rushed for a game-high 194 yards and a touchdown.
He is involved in other school activities, including choir and Interact Club. He was a participant in last year’s Interact Club talent routine that won first place at the regional Interact Convention in Pigeon Forge.
Director of Schools Bobby Cox said he was sad to hear of King’s arrest and described him as a popular student who is heavily involved in school activities.