Major Setback: After nearly killing his wife in a small domestic dispute, Detroit Lions standout player has landed in police custody and could be charged to court for attempted murder.
The Detroit Lions‘ off-season has been calm and football-focused for the last three months, a welcome diversion from the previous year when the team finished the summer with one enormous black eye and four players who were either arrested or cited seven times.
A Lions player was once more included in the police blotter on Tuesday.
Security Following a fight with his live-in girlfriend, Amari Spievey was taken into custody in his hometown of Middletown, Connecticut, according to the police.
According to a police report available on the Middletown Press website, Spievey, who started on the sidelines during his first three NFL seasons, is accused of assaulting his fiancée Lisa Marie Santos and putting his hand around her neck while he was carrying their 2-year-old kid.
The Lions issued a statement when Spievey did not answer a call for comment. “We are aware of the reports involving Amari Spievey,” the statement read. We will not be making any more comments at this time while we continue to gather additional facts.”
Spievey was described as “very cooperative” by the incident’s arresting officer, Steven DiMassa, to the Free Press. However, he declined to say further because the investigation is still underway.
Spievey was charged with three felonies: Class A misdemeanor danger of injury to a child, Class C misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and Class C felony third-degree assault.
Santos was also taken into custody and accused of disorderly conduct and endangering a kid.
According to a court clerk, both were freed on a $5,000 bond and showed up in Middletown Superior Court today, when judge David P. Gold issued protection orders against Spievey and Santos.
A domestic protection order has been issued for Spievey, and he needs to leave right away. He was permitted to bring his possessions home one time with the police. Santos is allowed to stay in the house because she was granted a partial protective order.
On April 11, they are scheduled to appear before the court’s family relations section once more.
The police report states that at approximately 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Spievey and Santos got into a fight about child support after Spievey advised their daughter “not to be like her mother.”
According to Santos, Spievey gave her two pushes but did not choke her. Santos had “a small red mark on the front right side of her neck,” which the officers observed, according to the report.
According to the report, Spievey said that Santos repeatedly held his throat and fired a barrage of blows at his chest, although he showed no outward symptoms of injury.
The Lions had to deal with an arrest each month during the off-season the previous year, and they cut ties with two of the four players who had legal issues before to training camp.
The offensive tackle Johnny Culbreath, who never played for the Lions, was arrested in January of last year for possession of marijuana. Mikel Leshoure, a running back, received two citations in February and March for possessing marijuana. In April and May, defensive tackle Nick Fairley was arrested on separate accusations of driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana. Additionally, cornerback Aaron Berry was accused of flashing a gun in July, leading to charges of three counts of simple assault and a DUI in June of last year.
Days after his second arrest, Berry was released, Culbreath was cut in July, and the team still has Fairley and Leshoure, first- and second-round picks in 2011.
After entering a guilty plea to his charges, Leshoure was suspended by the NFL for two games at the beginning of the previous season. The case concerning Fairley’s second arrest is still pending in court.
Spievey was anticipated to fight for a backup position in the secondary this fall after signing a one-year, $630,000 contract earlier this month as a restricted free agent with no money guaranteed. Last year, he only participated in five games due to concussion issues.
During last week’s NFL owners meetings, Lions coach Jim Schwartz stated that his team’s off-field issues did not serve as a diversion from their poor 4-12 campaign from the previous year.
“To be honest, you guys (the media) brought that up,” Schwartz remarked. “Once we arrived at training camp, that wasn’t even remotely distracting. That was a distraction when guys were asked, “What do you think about it?” with a microphone pressed in their faces during off-season workouts and the first few days of training camp.
“They would only consider it at that point. They continued on and went about their business for the remainder of it. I don’t think it was a dynamic on our squad at all until the season started and we entered training camp.”
