Louisville Cardinals cornerback Johnny Patrick has been arrested for assault, after an incident with his girlfriend. According to a report in the Courier-Journal, which can be found here, Patrick's girlfriend wanted to see some of the text messages on his phone; he refused to show her, she struggled with him to get the phone, and "she slipped and fell."The paper reported that Patrick called the police after his girlfriend fell, and when police arrived, they arrested Patrick because the girlfriend had scratches to her knee and elbow. When Patrick appeared in Court for arraignment, he was released on his own recognizance, ordered to stay away from the girl, and is due to return to Court next week.
Patrick's attorney states it was nothing more than a struggle over the phone, and that he expects the girlfriend to request to drop the charges. Since it is an apparent domestic violence case, however, the prosecutor may not be so quick to dismiss the case. As an attorney myself who sees DV cases on a regular basis, I can attest to the cycle of violence; battered women (or men, for that matter) tend to take their abuser back, often times because they rely on the abuser for financial support, or are afraid that using the system to get out of the relationship will yield worse consequences than staying in it.
That said, I tend to believe Patrick. We've all fought with our friends over seeing things on our phones, and I could definitely see something like this happen. For his sake, he better hope it gets dismissed. New Cardinals head coach Charlie Strong has instituted a new atmosphere in Louisville, where he expects people to "treat women with respect." A conviction here would certainly result in a suspension of Patrick from the team, and possibly the University. That's unfortunate for the Cards, who were relying on him to be the leader of their otherwise young defense. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
On a side note, it's not surprising that Strong had to change the attitude at the U of L regarding the treatment of women... what with the great leadership Rick Pitino had been providing.
Labels: Assault, Big East, Breaking The Law, Football
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