By Joe Johnson
Santonio Coleman, a 48-year-old transgender Athens resident who was found bloodied and unresponsive on a trail in the North Oconee Greenway, might have died as the result of an accident.
“What was initially thought to be a possible homicide is now being looked at as a possible accidental fall, based on his head injuries,” Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson said Tuesday evening.
Coleman’s family and members of the local LGBTQ+community were concerned that if it was a homicide it might have been a hate crime.
According to Wilson, He said the determination that Coleman’s death was possibly accidental was made during an autopsy at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s forensics laboratory in Decatur.
Coleman was found injured on October 19, on the Trail Creek Trail within the greenway on the east side of Athens, behind the University of Georgia’s Chicopee Complex.
The resident of North Grove Apartments was a known walker who enjoyed using the area’s trails.
Reginald Pifer-Mills was walking his dog when he came upon Coleman, on the sidewalk about 50 feet from the entrance to the greenway.
Pifer-Mills said that Coleman’s eyes were open and one of his legs was twitching, but Coleman was unresponsive.
After calling 911 the Oak Ridge Avenue resident assisted an officer in turning Coleman over, at which time blood was observed.
The officer then checked for injuries but found none, Pifer-Mills said.
A National EMS ambulance crew arrived and transported Coleman to the hospital, where he subsequently died.
The police department issued a press release the following day stating that the death was being investigated as a possible homicide.
However, the county coroner on Tuesday said that a final determination had yet to be made.
“Evidence is still being reviewed,” Wilson said. “It is still an active investigation.”