Atlanta — A man who was wanted in connection with the beating of a celebrity fitness trainer turned himself in to authorities last month.
Apollo Holmes, 24, has been charged with aggravated assault in the Dec. 26 attack on Darius Miller, 41, a fitness trainer who has trained celebrities such as pop star Usher as well as National Football League players.
As of Jan. 15, Miller was still in a coma and on a ventilator, according to a report by Atlanta TV station FOX 5. Doctors told Miller's family last month that Miller may never come out of his vegetative state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
According to earlier reports about the incident, Miller was escorting two daughters of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin when a group of men tried to videotape the women as they left a nightclub. Witnesses said a fight started because of objections to the videotaping.
Holmes is reportedly affiliated with 01 Entertainment, an Internet-based party promotions company that videotapes nightclub scenes to post on the Internet. Page Pate, a lawyer for 01 Entertainment, told the newspaper that Holmes was in the parking lot of the nightclub at the time of the incident. Both Holmes' attorney and Atlanta police say that Holmes did not have a camera at the nightclub, the TV station reported. Police, however, say that Holmes had an active role in the case.
In one account of the incident, Miller's cousin, Ken Miller, told the newspaper that about 10 men attacked his cousin after he had asked a man to stop videotaping the women. But Pate gave another version of the incident.
“I don't think it was as big of a melee as has been described,” Pate told the newspaper. “There weren't a lot of blows thrown.”