Kamara, Lammons indicted for battery
A grand jury in Nevada indicted New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, Cincinnati Bengals newly acquired cornerback Chris Lammons and two others on two criminal counts in connection with an alleged beating at a Las Vegas nightclub last February.
The Clark County grand jury handed up the indictment in Las Vegas on Wednesday on the same two battery charges prosecutors filed last year against the NFL players and two other men, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas first reported Thursday.
Kamara was arrested Feb. 6, 2022, after he played in the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas. Police say he told officers he punched a man after he thought he had done something to someone in his group and was trying to run away.
A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for March 1 in Justice Court in Las Vegas to determine if there was enough evidence to bound them over for trial in district court on the charges — felony battery resulting in substantial bodily harm and conspiracy to commit battery.
The indictment means the case can go directly to trial in district court without a preliminary hearing. No trial date has been set.
Kamara’s lawyers say the Saints star running back is innocent.
“The State has avoided a contested preliminary hearing by indicting Mr. Kamara,” Las Vegas lawyers Drew Findling, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in a joint statement.
“He intends to vigorously fight the allegations at trial as he was defending himself and others at the time of the incident,” they said.
The NFL has not taken any action against Kamara or Lammons.
Lammons played all this past season and one playoff game for Kansas City before the Chiefs waived him last month and the Bengals claimed him Monday.
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement the league continues to “monitor all legal developments in the matter which remains under review of the Personal Conduct Policy.”
Police say surveillance video shows Kamara and at least three other men attacked the victim Feb. 5 at about 6:30 a.m. They say it shows Kamara punching the man, Darnell Greene Jr., repeatedly before others stomped on the man while he was on the floor at the rooftop Drai’s Nightclub above The Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.
Kamara originally was charged with a single count of felony battery resulting in substantial bodily harm and released on bond. Prosecutors amended the complaint later that month to include both charges listed in Wednesday’s indictment.
Lammons and the two other men — Darrin Young and Percy Harris — turned themselves in after police issued warrants for their arrest in mid-February 2022. They also were released on bond.
Greene filed a civil suit against Kamara in Louisiana in October seeking $10 million in damages after it said Greene was punched in the face and stomped on near an elevator and was unconscious for “over two minutes.”
The lawsuit claims Greene’s orbital lobe was broken, and he had severe injuries to his shoulder, back, head, knees, face and neck.
• Tampa Bay is counting on Dave Canales to help the Buccaneers remain relevant following Tom Brady’s retirement. The former Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach was hired as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator, replacing Byron Leftwich.
• The NFL won’t look much different on the sidelines in 2023. DeMeco Ryans was the lone Black candidate to land one of the five openings, which means the 32team league remains stuck at just three Black coaches heading toward a new season for the fifth year in a row. The NFL also maintained the status quo with six minority head coaches. It remains a stubbornly low number in a league where nearly 57% of the players are Black and more than 69% minorities.
Shiffrin wins gold after split with her coach
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won the gold medal in the women’s giant slalom at the world championships a day after her unexpected split with longtime coach Mike Day.
Shiffrin overcame a mistake near the end of the race to hold on to her firstrun lead. When she saw her time, she covered her mouth with her hands, then collapsed to the snow in joy, relief and celebration.
“It’s been definitely some high levels of stress these days,” Shiffrin said. “It was very, very difficult today to keep the focus and keep the intensity on the right level.”
Shiffrin’s victory came two days after Day, her head coach since 2016, left her team during the middle of the championships in Meribel, France. Shiffrin informed him that she planned to take a new direction with her staff at the end of the season and Day decided to leave immediately.
“One thing I really want to say is just thank you to Mike for seven years of — I can’t even say helping me — he’s been such an integral part of my team and being there to support me through some of the most incredible moments in my career and some of the most challenging moments of my career and also my life,” Shiffrin said.
“So it’s it’s just a little bit sad how it came down,” Shiffrin said, adding that she was hoping to give Day “the time and the notice” to figure out his own plans before the end of the season but that his sudden departure was “difficult for all of us to imagine” after “being such a tight group, really a family.”
World championship races don’t count toward the World Cup circuit, where Shiffrin has racked up 11 wins this season to take her overall tally to 85. She broke former teammate Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82 last month and has moved within one of the overall mark set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in the 1970s and ’80s.
Jury: NCAA not liable in death of Finnerty
An Indiana jury found the NCAA not liable in the death of a former Grand Valley State quarterback whose widow accused the college sports governing body of failing to warn college athletes about the risks of head injuries while playing football.
A Marion County jury agreed with the NCAA’s arguments that Cullen Finnerty’s death did not result from a concussion he suffered while playing for the Michigan college or smaller blows to the head during his playing days, but from other health problems and addictions.
Finnerty won three Division II national titles as the starting QB for Grand Valley State in the early 2000s. He died in May 2013 at 30 after going missing while on vacation with his wife’s family.
An autopsy found that chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE — a disease caused by concussions and repeated blows to the head — was a contributing factor in Finnerty’s death.
His widow, Jennifer Finnerty, sued the Indianapolis-based NCAA, arguing that the association did not properly protect college athletes and warn them of the risks of head injuries while playing football.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to allow universities to help set up endorsement deals for college athletes in the state.
Tie for lead in Thailand
Sami Valimaki of Finland carded a 8-under 64 to share the lead with Martin Simonsen of Denmark after the first round of the Thailand Classic in Chonburi.