Linebacker Brown was teammate punched by Tohi
Weekend fight ended with Brown hospitalized
University of New Mexico linebacker David Brown of Albuquerque was identified as the person hospitalized after being punched at least twice by teammate Evahelotu Tohi during a weekend fight at a party, per a police report.
Brown suffered “internal bleeding on the right side of his brain” as a result of the blows, Brown’s mother Marissa Brown said in the Albuquerque Police Department report that was filed early Sunday morning.
The UNM football team had returned home from a Saturday afternoon game in Logan, Utah, where the Lobos lost 61-19 to Utah State.
No charges have been pressed, according to a KOB TV report, and David Brown did not cooperate with police a day after he got into an altercation with Tohi, the police report said. Brown was to be released from the hospital on Thursday, UNM coach Bob Davie said.
Davie suspended Tohi from all team activities Tuesday. Tohi, the Lobos’ leading tackler, practiced with the team Monday and Tuesday mornings, even though Davie has said he learned about the fight Sunday and talked to Tohi about it Monday.
Davie said he has not talked to Brown about the fight; when Davie visited him at UNM Hospital, Brown was asleep.
“I’ve done everything I need to do on this,” Davie said after Thursday’s practice, adding that he is bothered by
the perception that he waited too long to suspend Tohi.
“I talked to Evah immediately (at Monday’s practice), and I didn’t go into the details because it’s not my role to be the investigation on what happened,” Davie said. “That’s the protocol that every coach in America right now has to follow. That’s the way I follow it. What I do is give it to the athletic director as I did immediately. ... I don’t think anybody wants the football coach being the investigator. In fact, I think people have learned that’s absolutely the wrong way to do these things. I handle the procedure the way I am told to handle the procedure.”
In February, an investigation report provided to UNM by the Chicago law firm Hogan Marren Babbo & Rose said that, after a UNM player was accused of rape, Davie at a team meeting asked his players to let him know if any of them had information about the incident.
According to the report, Davie later went to UNM Police, accompanied by a player, with a video that he believed undermined the alleged victim’s credibility.
The Hogan Marren report did not find that Davie had violated UNM policy, but then-UNM President Chaoki Abdallah cited that incident in suspending Davie for 30 days.
On Thursday, UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez agreed that Davie followed protocol, which required that the coach notify Nuñez immediately about such a situation. Nuñez said he in turn notified the UNM Office of
Equal Opportunity about the matter.
Brown’s mother told police that she did not witness the incident. She told police that Tohi told her about the altercation, that he called Brown a name (“Brownie”) and Brown got in Tohi’s face and chestbumped him several times. Tohi retaliated by punching Brown in the face, according to the police report.
The police report includes a witness, identified as “teammate” Ritshley Bissereth, but he is not on the UNM roster.
The witness said it appeared Brown, listed at 6-feet-1 and 217 pounds on UNM’s roster, and Tohi were “play fighting,” but “then Evah punched David in the chest and in the face, while David just stood still and took the hits,” the police report says.
Two other teammates, per the report, tried to hold back Tohi, a senior from Phoenix listed at 6-2, 227, to stop the fight, but Tohi broke free and punched Brown in the face one more time.
Brown fell unconscious to the floor. His friends took him to the hospital.
Tohi was visiting Brown at the hospital when Brown’s mother came to see her son. The Journal attempted to contact Marissa Brown on Thursday, but she did not return phone calls or text messages.
Davie said that he is not certain how long Tohi’s suspension will be. The coach said he wants to “let it play out.”
Tohi is the second UNM football player to be suspended this year. Rayshawn Boyce, a 22-year-old linebacker, was suspended in June and confirmed to be suspended for the season in August.
Boyce was accused of hitting his ex-girlfriend and of shooting at her unoccupied car May 12. Boyce was ordered not to have contact with his ex-girlfriend or the Lobo football teammate he also was accused of attacking on that date.
An evidentiary hearing is set for Jan. 28 for his case. He was charged with aggravated burglary, battery upon a household member, criminal damage to private property and negligent use of a firearm, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metro Court.
Boyce, who pleaded not guilty, does not have a prior criminal record.
Boyce played in eight games last season with three tackles.