Spectre of domestic abuse surrounds Eskimos’ Robert Sands
EDMONTON — Two days after a New York Times story ran on domestic abuse allegations that focused on a former NFL player who is now with the Edmonton Eskimos, the team is staying quiet.
Cornerback Robert Sands left Wednesday’s practice in Edmonton refusing comment, after the major New York daily wrote about his relationship with his now ex-wife, Mercedes Sands. She described their brief marriage as one where she endured verbal and physical abuse, as well as infidelity.
Sands, a 25-year-old who was with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2011 and 2012, was arrested for fourth-degree assault in a domestic incident on January 4, 2013. Mercedes called police saying that Robert was choking her with his hand while putting his weight on her stomach. She was eight-months pregnant.
Robert Sands told the Times in a phone interview that the case was expunged in exchange for his compliance to undergo counselling. The story also pointed out that after the arrest, he filed for an order of protection against his then-wife.
Sands denied any violence against his wife, both to the Times and to the Journal when he first joined the team in June.
“It was a misdemeanour. It wasn’t a felony, nothing like that. It got dropped and was dismissed on top of that,” Sands said on June 1.
Mercedes supplied a photo to the Times that shows marks on her neck that she said came from her thenhusband. She said after the January arrest, Sands cleaned out their joint checking account and left her alone in their home with no money. She said she went through the final weeks of her pregnancy relying on food stamps and church handouts, with the support group she had from Bengals’ wives having evaporated.
The timing of the story lined up with Sands’ return to the Eskimos. He was injured in Week 1 of the season and has spent the rest of the year on the team’s injured list. He re-joined the team for practices last week, with the story running on Monday.
Eskimos president and CEO Len Rhodes and Eskimos general manager Ed Hervey declined to comment for this story.
In Sands’ absence from the team, domestic abuse has become a hot-button issue in football, with video of former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice knocking his thenfiancé unconscious being leaked to the media on Sept. 8. In the wake of the public uproar over the video, Rice’s two-game suspension (another source of prior uproar) became an indefinite one the day the video was released.
The Canadian Football League followed suit the same day, saying it would honour Rice’s suspension.
In addition to Sands, the Times also wrote about former Green Bay Packer Brandon Underwood, whose wife, Brandie, left him in 2011, Brandon Underwood is on the Stampeders practice roster and has spent time with the Toronto Argonauts.