Former UNC basketball player shares account of 2019 attack in Chapel Hill, says Atlanta shootings compelled him to speak out
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- A former UNC basketball player is speaking out after a traumatic experience in Chapel Hill.
"I had a skull fracture that went from the top of my forehead to under my eye," said Kane Ma, a walk-on who graduated in 2018.
Ma said in March of 2019, he encountered three men when he was back in town watching his former team play Duke.
A friend called him to tell him to go to McCauley Street, which is steps from Franklin and as soon as he got there, he said three men approached him.
"One of the guys was saying, 'What you're not going to try some Kung-Fu on us?'" Ma said. "For me for me that was translation for you're not going to protect yourself as we're coming at you."
Ma filed a police report, which the Town of Chapel Hill confirmed Wednesday. Ma said he was told by a detective that it was 'his word' against 'theirs,' even though the men eventually admitted to putting him in a chokehold.
Officials said no charges were filed but Ma was told how to do so through the magistrate's office.
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"The story was that they put me in a chokehold, I became unconscious, then I fell to the ground," Ma said. "It didn't sit well with me."
Ma said the shootings in Atlanta last week didn't sit well with him either and they compelled him to share his story.
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He posted it to his LinkedIn account and the post has nearly 274,000 reactions and thousands more comments. The post included the hashtag "#StopAsianHate."
"Those things were really tough knowing that stuff like that could happen to people who look like us," he said. "I felt compelled and wanted to share something that happened to me."
He said the UNC program gave him tremendous support, especially assistant coach Hubert Davis, who put him in contact with a potential lawyer.
"I just want to encourage others to live in their truth and be free and know that their voices are something important and deserve to be heard," he said. "At the end of the day, actions will always speak louder than words. It's cliche but it's true."
