Former Buford High, SEC Football Player Charged with Murder, Child Cruelty (Updated)

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Updated, 11:30 a.m.

A Gwinnett man who reportedly played football in the Southeastern Conference is being held in the Gwinnett County Jail on murder and child cruelty charges, police confirmed.

Steven Terrence Singleton, 26, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the jail around 5 p.m., according to jail records.

Singleton played football at Buford High and at LSU and South Carolina, AJC.com reported.

Police said in a news release Singleton was charged in the death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son, Tye Hardin, who died at 3 a.m. Monday, April 27, two days after being admitted to the hospital with “significant trauma to his head and brain.”

The child had been on life support at Scottish Rite Hospital until it was turned off Monday morning.

According to the initial police report, on Saturday, Tierra Green left her son with Singleton at his apartment on Club Lakes Parkway near Lawrenceville so she could go home to get ready for an evening event. As she was driving back to Singleton’s apartment, he called her about Tye, police said.

“Singleton told her that something was wrong with Tye and that she needed to hurry,” Gwinnett Police Cpl. Michele Pihera said in a news release.

After Green arrived at the apartment, 911 was called, but instead of waiting on the ambulance, the couple took Tye to North Georgia Urgent Care on Pleasant Hill Road. The staff there said the boy needed to be treated at a local hospital and 911 was called again, according to police.

According to the police report, Tye had a bruise on the right side of his forehead, on his right cheek, on the right side of his chest and under his right arm.

According to Gwinnett Police, Singleton gave this account to an intial-responding officer:

• Tye was sitting in a chair in the living room eating some food and watching TV. while he was in the bathroom getting ready for the event.
• From the bathroom, Singleton told Tye to get up and get ready.
• While still in the bathroom, Singleton heard a loud “thump.”
• Singleton went to the living room and saw Tye on the floor lying on his back unresponsive.
• When he approached Tye, he noticed that his eyes were “rolled back.”
• Singleton said that Tye had wet and soiled clothes.
• He said that as he was carrying Tye to the bathroom, he accidentally hit Tye’s head on the wooden door frame.
• Singleton noticed a bump on the right side of Tye’s head the size of a golf ball.
• Tye’s mother arrived shortly thereafter.

Police interviewed Singleton on April 29 and determined Singleton’s account of events and Tye’s injuries were inconsistent. He was arrested and charged with felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children.

The AJC reported Singleton was a star football player at Buford High, who initially went to LSU on a football scholarship in 2006. He then transferred to Georgia Military College and then to South Carolina, the newspaper said.

(Photo: Steven Terrence Singleton. Gwinnett County Jail mug shot)

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