NFL’s case against Cowboys’ Elliott looks convincing on paper
But lawyers dispute Dallas running back’s six-game suspension for domestic violence
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gathered his investigators’ evidence of domestic violence against Ezekiel Elliott and bounced it off four independent advisers before suspending the Dallas Cowboys running back without pay for six games on Friday.
That the evidence against Elliott appears convincing — and disturbing — is the inescapable conclusion one must reach after reading the league’s letter to Elliott on Friday, which summarized its investigations, spanning more than a year, and the subsequent findings.
On Friday afternoon, Elliott’s lawyers, Frank Salzano and Scott Rosenblum, released a statement accusing the NFL of cherry-picking evidence to suit its version of the facts.
“Mr. Elliott and his team of representatives are extremely disappointed with the NFL’s decision,” Salzano and Rosenblum’s statement said. “We are fully aware of the full body of evidence…
“The NFL’s findings are replete with factual inaccuracies and erroneous conclusions and it cherry-picks so-called evidence to support its conclusion, while ignoring other critical evidence.”
Earlier Friday, the NFL informed Elliott — one of the league’s most exhilarating young players — by letter that he is suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2017 regular season for what it called “violations that involve physical force against a woman in the context of an intimate relationship.”
The league concluded there were no “mitigating or aggravating factors.”
The allegations against Elliott at best reveal him to be far from a model citizen and, at worst, suggest he ought to be sent straight to jail. But it looks for all the world as though Elliott will appeal — and his camp might have some bombshells of their own.
“During the upcoming weeks and through the appeal, a slew of additional credible and (opposing) evidence will come to light,” Salzano and Rosenblum promised.
First, let’s look at the undisputed events:
In July 2016 — not even three months after the Cowboys selected the former Ohio State star fourth overall in the NFL’s entry draft — reports out of Columbus, Ohio, said Elliott allegedly committed physical violence against Tiffany Thompson, his girlfriend at the time. But two months later, the Columbus city attorney’s office chose not to pursue criminal prosecution against Elliott after four witnesses disputed Thompson’s claims.
Then, last November, came reports that Thompson — five months before the July 2016 incident — had told police in Aventura, Fla., that Elliott “had pushed her against a wall, resulting in left shoulder pain,” according to a police report, although she showed no “signs of injury.” Thompson did not pursue charges in that Florida incident and Elliott was not arrested nor charged (strangely, the NFL made no mention of this matter in its Friday news release, nor its letter to Elliott).
The NFL did investigate a second incident against Elliott. At a St. Patrick’s Day parade this past March 11 in Dallas, Elliott was videotaped pulling down the shirt of a young woman, exposing and touching her breast. Again: no complaint, no arrest.
The NFL’s personal conduct policy states that even when any league employee is not charged with a crime, “he may still be found to have violated the policy if the credible evidence” arises. Here is the NFL’s side of it: The league informed Elliott it conducted extensive investigations into both the July 2016 and March incidents. Regarding the former, the NFL told Elliott on Friday in its letter that its investigators “interviewed more than a dozen witnesses, including Ms. Thompson, and examined all available” photographic, digital, text and electronic evidence. What’s more, the league said it consulted two medical experts regarding “identification, causation and aging of certain injuries to Ms. Thompson” as revealed in contemporaneous photos.
On June 7, the league disclosed its findings to Elliott and his representatives.
Goodell presented the same findings to what the league describes as four independent advisers: a former attorney general of New Jersey, the CEO of a group that advocates for women of colour victimized by violence, a former U.S. attorney and Ken Houston, a Hall of Fame defensive back from 1967-80.
Goodell met separately with each of the four advisers, who the NFL says “individually were of the view that there is substantial and persuasive evidence supporting a finding that you engaged in physical violence” against Thompson on three separate days in July 2016, according to the letter.
Those assaults in sum left Thompson with injuries to her arms, neck, shoulders, wrist, hands, face, knee and hips, the NFL concluded. That’s the NFL’s side. After informing Elliott of his punishment, the league further warned the 22-year-old — who led the NFL in rushing as a rookie in 2016 with 1,631 yards — that he must be clinically evaluated, and “must have no further involvement with law enforcement, and must not commit any additional violations of league policies.” If he does, he could potentially be banned from the NFL.
The running back has denied all allegations stemming from that week in July 2016, suggesting bruises depicted in Thompson’s photos occurred before that week, according to the league’s letter.
Elliott’s lawyers claimed “the NFL’s own experts concluded” that many of Thompson’s injuries “predated the week in question and likely occurred during a period of time when Mr. Elliott was not in contact with the accuser.”
During the upcoming weeks … a slew of additional credible and (opposing) evidence will come to light.