Body-camera footage captured the accused student saying there was “no bad blood,” while witnesses told police he initiated a physical confrontation.
NEWNAN, Ga. — A Georgia college student accused of attacking a high school runner during a cross-country race told officers the two had “no bad blood,” leaving investigators to reconcile his account with witnesses who described an intentional physical confrontation.
Aiden Dombrowski, 19, is charged with battery after the Sept. 26 incident in Newnan. FOX 5 Atlanta reported that body-camera footage showed Dombrowski describing the runner as an acquaintance and characterizing what happened as a prank, while also denying that he struck the athlete. Newnan police said the victim and several witnesses gave a different account: They reported that a man wearing an East Coweta High School cross-country jersey emerged from woods beside the course, ran toward the victim, pushed him and hit him with his fists. Police have not publicly identified a motive, making the contradiction between those accounts one of the case’s most important unresolved issues.
The body-camera exchange occurred after the confrontation, when Dombrowski surrendered to officers in a parking lot near the race. An officer asked about his relationship with the runner, according to footage described by FOX 5 and other outlets. Dombrowski acknowledged that he knew the person but said they were not friends. When asked about bad blood, he said there was none and called them acquaintances. Those statements are significant because police have not announced evidence of a longstanding dispute. They also stop well short of explaining why, according to witnesses, Dombrowski appeared on the course wearing another high school’s uniform and approached that runner.
Police identified Dombrowski after responding to a 911 call at 7:59 a.m. The call reported an assault at a high school cross-country meet near 56 Sewell Road. Officers interviewed the runner and several witnesses after arriving. The department said those witnesses described a male emerging from the woods while holding rocks and wearing an East Coweta jersey. They said he ran toward the runner and initiated the confrontation. Police specifically said he pushed the victim and struck him with his fists; the official account does not say that he used the rocks to strike the athlete. The victim then defended himself, according to the department.
Dombrowski’s reported description of the episode as a prank presents investigators with a basic question of intent. A prank ordinarily suggests conduct intended as a joke rather than an attack, but police said the witness accounts described pushing and punching. FOX 5 reported that the runner’s statement also conflicted with Dombrowski’s denial that he hit him. Authorities have not publicly said whether Dombrowski provided a fuller explanation of what he expected to happen, why he entered the course from the wooded area or why he believed the encounter would be understood as a joke. Without that information, the prank description remains his reported characterization rather than an investigative conclusion.
The events before the race have added to the questions about intent. Investigators told FOX 5 that Dombrowski drove from Athens to Newnan on Friday night and slept in his car before the Saturday morning meet. He attends the University of Georgia, according to the station. Police said that by the time of the race he was wearing a cross-country jersey associated with East Coweta High School. The Police Department later checked with the Coweta County School System and confirmed that Dombrowski was neither a current nor former East Coweta student. Officials have not publicly said how he obtained the jersey or why he chose to wear it.
The confrontation ended when the runner fought back and Dombrowski fled from the course into the woods, police said. FOX 5 reported that Dombrowski sustained a visible cut above his right eye and was treated after he returned. A short time after leaving the course, he turned himself in to officers in a nearby parking lot. By then he had changed clothes, according to police. Officers found the East Coweta jersey inside his vehicle. That discovery corroborated at least one important element of the witnesses’ account: the clothing they said the person on the course had been wearing.
Police arrested Dombrowski and took him to the Coweta County Jail on a battery charge. That charge is an accusation and does not determine guilt. The publicly available reports reviewed for this story do not show a final resolution of the case, nor do they identify an attorney who has publicly presented a legal response for Dombrowski. His comments recorded by police therefore provide the main publicly reported version attributed directly to him: that he knew the runner only as an acquaintance, that there was no bad blood and that the incident was meant as a prank.
Dombrowski’s background makes his presence at a cross-country meet less random than it might initially appear, but it does not answer the motive question. FOX 5 reported that he had run cross-country at Northgate High School before attending the University of Georgia. An online recruiting profile likewise lists him as a Northgate runner in the Class of 2026. Witnesses familiar with him from his high school running days recognized him, according to FOX 5. That recognition may have helped officers identify him, but police have not publicly linked his former team membership to the alleged attack or said that a rivalry between schools played any role.
The distinction between Northgate and East Coweta has instead produced a second unexplained part of the case. Dombrowski was reportedly associated with one school’s running program yet, police say, wore another school’s jersey at the meet. Authorities have not accused East Coweta athletes or staff members of helping him. They also have not publicly described the jersey as stolen, despite some secondary accounts using stronger language about its origin. The confirmed point is narrower: witnesses reported seeing the East Coweta jersey, officers later found it in Dombrowski’s vehicle, and the school system confirmed that he had never been an East Coweta student.
Lt. Josh Jordan told FOX 5 that the circumstances led investigators to believe there was a reason behind the conduct, citing the trip from Athens and the events at the meet. Police, however, have not filled that gap with speculation. They have not announced evidence that Dombrowski planned to seriously injure the runner, nor have they said the rocks he was reportedly holding were used against him. They have not disclosed messages, social media posts or prior confrontations that would establish a purpose. That restraint leaves a sharp divide between what investigators can document about the sequence and what remains unknown about the reason for it.
The runner has not been publicly identified in the police releases, and authorities have released little information about his condition after the incident. Police said he defended himself, and FOX 5 reported that Dombrowski was the person who received visible medical attention. Keeping the high school athlete unnamed also limits public information about any prior relationship between the two. Dombrowski’s description of the victim as an acquaintance suggests some previous contact, but authorities have not disclosed how they knew each other, how frequently they interacted or whether investigators found communications between them before the meet.
What happened on the course is also being described in sharply different ways. Witnesses told police Dombrowski pushed and punched the runner, while Dombrowski reportedly denied hitting him and called the episode a prank. No public update has reconciled those accounts, and the battery allegation has not been adjudicated. His stated claim that there was “no bad blood” likewise has not produced a public explanation for the encounter.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 10, 2026.