AP: Captain of Harvard Football Team Suspended (assaulted girlfriend)

[DeepModem Mom]

AP: Captain of Harvard Football Team Suspended
Jul 08
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

The captain of the Harvard football team was indefinitely suspended and could be kicked off the team after he allegedly broke into his former girlfriend's dorm room and later assaulted her.

Matthew Thomas, 22, faces charges after his arrest June 5, including assault and battery, domestic abuse and breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony at a campus dorm.

Witnesses saw the 6-foot-1, 245-pound Thomas choke the alleged victim with one hand before "he suddenly lifted her and drove his knee into her chest," according to a criminal complaint filed in Cambridge District Court by Harvard police.

The woman was treated at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge for her injuries, including a large welt on her lower back, police said....

***

According to police, the alleged victim returned to her room after a party that she and Thomas attended separately, and she found him passed out on the floor. She woke him to confront him about a relationship with another woman, the two began yelling and he began to hit her, according to the police report....

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/08/D8IO2TCG0.html

[GrumpyGreg]

1. The arrogance of these guys never ceases to amaze me.

[Kutjara]

2. He'll get off with a slap on the wrist. After all...

...he's a Big Football Star and she's just a woman.

[screenplaya]

3. He certainly looks like

a legacy.

[Vidar]

4. Same thing happened yesterday with a city commissioner ( former

deputy sheriff) in my town. He tried to deny it, though it took place down town in front of 16 witnesses.

[MadMaddie]

5. Let's get this straight...he cheated on her with another women

she dares to bring it up...and he drives his knee into her chest....and chokes her....
I hope she has brothers to kick his ass.....and then he should be prosecuted and sent to jail for a couple of years.....

[Big_Mike]

6. Harvard has a football team????

I'm just saying...

In all seriousness, investigate and incarcerate the problem. Get it off the streets. Shithead can afford Harvard, and does this kind of stupid shit???

Deserves whatever a court hands down.

[barb162]

7. "drove his knee into her chest"

what an asshole!

[Divernan]

8. Harvard coach worried about binge drinking by team members.

This was the 3rd player suspended from the Harvard football team in a few weeks. It's not just a problem at Harvard. What is it with binge drinking? I saw a lot of it when I was in law school - both men and women getting blind drunk every weekend - drinking w/funnels to get blind drunk as quick as possible - then laughing about waking up in their own puke. This was a Catholic law school and these alchoholics were all soooooooo devout - going to Sunday mass with their miserable hangovers. Probably made the priests gag from the smell when they opened their mouths to take communion.

www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513872

Matt Thomas '06-'07, named team captain of the 2006 Crimson on Nov. 22nd, was arrested by Harvard University police on June 5th and charged with assault and battery domestic abuse, breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, and malicious destruction of property in connection with an incident in Currier House.

Two Currier House residents told The Crimson that they had spoken with close friends of Thomas who indicated that he was intoxicated at the time of the incident, although the brief summary of the incident included in the public police log makes no mention of Thomas being in such a state. It is HUPD policy not to release full incident reports to the public.

The incident was the second recent off-the-field altercation involving allegedly drunken football players. Danny P. Lane '07 and James R. Velissaris '07 were suspended for the Holy Cross game on Sept. 16 after their involvement in an Apr. 29 altercation with a shuttle driver in front of Currier House after the team's annual spring barbeque. Murphy suspended the pair, stating they had exercised "poor judgment." The shuttle driver was fired due to his role in instigating the event. Offensive lineman Thomas Rodger '08 was also arrested in the spring after being accused of stealing gloves from an ambulance, but the charges were eventually dropped.

When asked about the pair of incidents leading to suspension, Murphy sounded a worried note. "The only thing I'll say is that I am definitely concerned about drinking and binge drinking," he said. "I think historically our kids have had a remarkable record of citizenship on campus, but there have been just a couple things this spring. Both involved heavy drinking and obviously I'm very concerned."

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Thanks for this additional info, Divernan.

Binge drinking is, for sure, part of this problem: "Officers said they needed to awaken Thomas after they aided the alleged victim and that he appeared confused about why police were there."

[Threedifferentones]

10. "Passed out on the floor."

He was obviously drunk, and that will be his excuse.