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Mike Carson

A DeKalb County high school football coach has been sidelined after being accused of sexting a parent.

Head Coach Michael Carson, of Martin Luther King High School, was suspended Aug. 21 pending the outcome of an ethics investigation into the allegations, according to DeKalb County School District spokesman Jeff Dickerson.

The allegations surfaced after a parent of two football players at the school confronted Carson during a football game Aug. 18, Dickerson said.

“The parent was [upset] with the amount of time the player” was getting on the field, Dickerson said.

The parent, identified as Davida Bishop, allegedly showed other people at the football game the photographs, which were allegedly sent by the coach via text messages.

“She displayed some photographs of him,” Dickerson said, and alleged that there was an “inappropriate relationship or overtures to the parent,” Dickerson said. The photographs were allegedly nude pictures.

“The nature of that relationship or overture is being investigated,” he said.

Dickerson said Carson, who was a coach at Martin Luther King High School for three years, “is cooperating fully and is providing additional information.”

Dickerson said district officials do not know how long the investigation will take but “we want to get it over.”

Carson’s assistant coach for defensive backs, Rober Freeman, is leading the football team as interim head coach.

Carson, who is on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, cannot have any contact with any students.