NFL’s Kamara faces assault charge
LAS VEGAS >> New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and three other men pleaded not guilty Thursday in Nevada to charges they beat a man unconscious at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub before the NFL’s 2022 Pro Bowl.
Kamara appeared alongside Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Chris Lammons and co-defendants Darrin Young and Percy Harris in state court. They could face trial July 31, according to the schedule set by the judge.
The four are each charged with a felony and a misdemeanor for allegedly punching, kicking and stomping on Darnell Greene Jr. of Houston during an altercation outside an elevator.
“Not guilty, your honor,” said Kamara, who played in the league all-star game the day after the alleged attack. Police questioned him after the game and he was arrested Feb. 6, 2022, on suspicion of felony battery resulting in substantial bodily harm. Lammons, Young and Harris were arrested days later.
The felony battery charge could result in one to five years in state prison. Conspiracy to commit battery carries a possible misdemeanor sentence of 364 days in county jail. RICHARDSON DIES AT 86 >> Jerry Richardson, the Carolina Panthers founder and for years one of the NFL’s most influential owners until a scandal forced him to sell the team, has died. He was 86.
Richardson became the first former NFL player to own a team since Chicago’s George Halas when he landed the expansion Panthers in 1993.
Richardson’s reputation took a tremendous hit when he announced he was selling the Panthers on Dec. 17, 2017, — the same day Sports Illustrated reported that four former Panthers employees received significant monetary settlements due to inappropriate sexually suggestive language and actions by Richardson. It was also reported he used a racial slur directed toward a team scout.
He sold the team in May 2018 for a then-NFL record $2.27 billion. The following month the NFL fined Richardson $2.75 million for alleged workplace misconduct.
Richardson never addressed the allegations against him publicly.
College football JALEN CARTER POSTS BOND IN FATAL CRASH >>
Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter returned to the NFL scouting combine after turning himself in to
Athens police Wednesday night and posting a combined bond of $4,000 on charges of reckless driving and racing in relation to a fatal crash that killed a teammate and team staffer.
Carter, originally projected as one of the top players in next month’s NFL draft, could lose millions of dollars if he drops from the top of the first round because of his alleged connection to the Jan. 15 crash that killed teammate Devin Willock and a recruiting staffer, 24-year-old Chandler LeCroy.
Police allege in an arrest warrant that Carter was racing his 2021 Jeep Trackhawk against the 2021 Ford Expedition driven by LeCroy at the time of the crash. Willock was a passenger in the SUV LeCroy was driving.
Carter issued a statement on Twitter after the warrant was made public Wednesday, saying he expects to be “fully exonerated.”