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Woman in Kareem Hunt Altercation Reportedly Not Cooperating with Prosecutors
December 2, 2018
The woman who was pushed and kicked by former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt at a Cleveland hotel in February reportedly isn't cooperating with prosecutors after initially telling police at the scene that she wanted to press charges.
According to TMZ:
"Our law enforcement sources tell us the woman never took her demand for charges to the city Prosecutor's Office and hasn't cooperated with the Prosecutor—and that might be why the case has gone nowhere.
"We're told police viewed the incident as an alleged misdemeanor assault, because, to the best of their knowledge, the woman hadn't suffered any serious injury. She would need to present evidence of serious injury for the incident to upgraded to a felony."
According to TMZ, the woman also initially expressed an interest in pressing charges for having the SIM card from her phone stolen. In the hotel surveillance video TMZ obtained and released publicly, someone is seen taking her phone. She said it was eventually returned but without the SIM card.
The woman asked police to view the security footage when she said she wanted to press charges, though police informed her the hotel wasn't required to show them that footage as a private facility, and the police would need a court-ordered subpoena to review the video.
Hunt was released by the Chiefs on Friday in the wake of the video being made public. The team reportedly spoke to Hunt at the time of the altercation and he denied taking part, which was corroborated by witnesses, according to Albert Breer of MMQB.com. The NFL also reportedly attempted to obtain security footage from the evening in question during its investigation but was informed by the hotel that it would only be released to law enforcement, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
Additionally, police didn't request the video because a felony charge wasn't in play. Per Rapoport, "It was a misdemeanor case, [sergeant and public information officer Jennifer Ciaccia of the Cleveland Police Department] said, and detectives don't follow up as they do with felonies. In other words, detectives didn't go back for the video. They referred victims to the city prosecutor to file charges."
Hunt is currently on the Commissioner's Exempt List and is ineligible to play while under that designation, even if he is picked up by another team on waivers. He is likely facing a lengthy suspension given the altercation at the hotel and a second incident from June, with the NFL investigating whether Hunt punched a man at an Ohio resort, per Rapoport.