CHIEFS CUT HUNT AFTER ABUSE SHOCKER
The Chiefs sent Kareem Hunt packing.
Kansas City announced Friday it had released the star running back hours after a video that showed him pushing and kicking a woman in a Cleveland hotel was published by TMZ.com.
Hunt was also placed on the commissioner’s exempt list by the NFL, meaning he cannot practice, play or attend games while the league continues to investigate.
“The NFL’s investigation, which began immediately following the incident in February, will include a review of the new information that was made public today,” the league said in a statement.
The Chiefs, in a statement, acknowledged they were made aware of an incident involving Hunt, which occurred in February, but he lied to them during their talks with him.
“At that time, the National Football League and law enforcement initiated investigations into the issue,” the statement read. “As part of our internal discussions with Kareem, several members of our management team spoke directly to him. Kareem was not truthful in those discussions. The video released today confirms that fact. We are releasing Kareem immediately.”
In the video, Hunt pushes the 19-year-old woman, then gets restrained before she slaps at him, sending him into a rage. Hunt then turns around the corner and storms into a man who collides with the woman, sending both to the floor.
The woman, identified in February by Cleveland.com as Abigail Ottinger, of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, told police Hunt assaulted her at about 3:45 a.m. on Feb. 10 at Cleveland’s The Metropolitan at the 9 hotel. Another woman who was with Hunt’s friend said Ottinger had assaulted her, according to police reports obtained by Cleveland.com.
The 23-year-old Hunt, who grew up in a Cleveland suburb and played college ball at Toledo, was at practice Friday in preparation for the Chiefs’ game at Oakland on Sunday, but was sent home by the team after the release of the video.
According to TMZ, law enforcement obtained the video from The Metropolitan and submitted it to prosecutors, who elected not to charge Hunt. One police report listed Hunt as a suspect, while another listed Ottinger as such. Cleveland police Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said the cross com- plaint indicated that each person claimed they were victimized in the incident.
Ottinger, a Kent State student, told cops in February the argument started when she refused to hook up with a member of Hunt’s entourage. One of Hunt’s friends told police they kicked Ottinger and her friend out of the room after learning that they were only 19 years old, but Ottinger said they were booted because she “didn’t want” one of the men in Hunt’s entourage.
Ottinger was further accused of calling Hunt and his friend racial slurs when she was told that she needed to leave. Ottinger and her female friend then waited in a hallway as they tried to get a ride back to Kent State. Hunt’s friend told police he gave the women $20 and that the NFL running back decided to go to bed, according to the police report.
Ottinger then stayed in the hallway for roughly 30 minutes as she continued yelling and pounding on the room door, her friend told police. Another woman in Hunt’s group, meanwhile, said she was struck in the face by Ottinger when she went into the hallway to tell the pair to leave, according to the police report.
Ottinger told Cleveland.com that “things got physical” at the hotel, but declined further comment, as did her friend, according to the website.
Kansas City (9-2), one of the Super Bowl favorites from the AFC, will have to try to get there without one of its most productive players. Hunt, who led the league in rushing last season, had run for 824 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games this season. He also had seven receiving scores.
The footage is eerily reminiscent of the shocking Ray Rice video from 2014, when the former Ravens running back was seen punching his then-fiancée in the face in an Atlantic City hotel elevator. The NFL initially suspended Rice for two games, but when the video surfaced — also on TMZ — and the outcry was deafening, the Ravens released him and Rice was suspended for the full season. He has not played in the NFL since.