Friends of Richardson told the newspaper that there had been a scuffle between Richardson and a group of men earlier in the night, after the men tumbled down a hill and ran into him and his friends. WSB-TV reported that Richardson asked the men to be careful because his girlfriend was pregnant, and his group included a mentally impaired child.

Later in the night, two men returned to confront Richardson. One reportedly snatched Richardson's hat from his head. "The guy threw the hat back at him," one of Richardson's friends told the newspaper. "And when [Richardson] caught it, the guy hit him in the face and [Richardson] hit the ground and hit the concrete with the back of his head. He just collapsed."

The man who threw the punch and another man ran off. Police reportedly have only a vague description of the suspects, and haven't made any arrests.