LARGO, Md. — A Prince George's County mother has been living every parent's worst nightmare for weeks now after she got a call in the middle of the night saying her 23-year-old son was in the hospital.
After celebrating a win for a basketball game in Nicosia, Cyrpus, Corey Manigault and his friends went out to a nightclub. His mother, Sothia Green, said he was attacked outside of the club and sustained multiple injuries including brain hemorrhage and hematoma.
“When I got there, I was not really able to talk to him because he was not alert," Green said of her son. "He was intubated and sedated."
The former St. Paul VI basketball player is living abroad in Limassol playing in a European basketball league. He has also played in Bulgaria and Tunisia, according to his mother.
The details of what happened that night are still a mystery to Green.
“I don't know where he was going ... I'm still unaware of the events of what happened," the confused mother said.
Manigault was in the Intensive Care Unit from Nov. 21 until Dec. 1. Green said he has now been moved to the neurology ward. She says Manigault is able to speak now, and that doctors were unsure why he temporarily lost that ability.
She is now trying to get her son transferred home to continue receiving medical treatment in the United States. Green alleges that her son is not being treated fairly, despite not being accused of any wrongdoing.
“They have him restrained to the bed ... in soft restraints," she said. "I have not seen him stand. They're saying that he was standing ... So I'm not quite sure of who to believe and what to believe."
Green said one of the biggest complications she's having is the language barrier. Cyprus is a Greek and Turkish-speaking country.
“All I know now is that my son is still hospitalized, and this has been the worst experience of my life," she said. "Culturally this is totally different and I have received limited support."
At 6-foot-9, Manigault was described by his former coaches as a gentle giant. He played high school basketball at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly. From there he went on to play at the University of Pittsburgh, before transferring to Indian Hills Community College. He sat out for a year because of freshman eligibility rules and then went on to play basketball University of New Mexico Lobos. He graduated in May of 2020 with a Liberal Arts degree.
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