Hunt: release ‘right’ decision

KANSAS CITY, MO. >> Running back Kareem Hunt acknowledged that he misled the Kansas City Chiefs about his role in a February assault in a Cleveland hotel that ultimately led to his release.

During a live interview with ESPN on Sunday, the NFL’s reigning rushing champion also said that league officials never spoke to him about the incident while conducting their own investigation, and that he never saw the security camera video until TMZ Sports posted it Friday.

“They believed that I lied to them. I lied to them,” Hunt said. “They pretty much said we love you, everybody cares about you, and just we have to let you go. It was a tough conversation. And the Chiefs did what was right. I made a poor decision and I’m willing to take full responsibility.”

In the grainy, graphic video, Hunt is seen getting into an argument with a woman and several men step in to hold him back. He later pushes one of the men, knocking down a woman that Hunt admitted he did not know, and eventually kicks her while she lays on the ground.

“The Chiefs are right. I didn’t tell them everything,” Hunt said. “My actions caused this and I really wish I could apologize to them and let them know there’s no hard feelings.”

Hunt, 23, said he’d just purchased an apartment in the Cleveland hotel and had several friends over, and that he did not know the woman involved in the assault. Hunt said the argument came at the end of “a long night” and that “it was just a disagreement. I honestly wanted her just to leave.”

He added, “Everything is happening fast right now and I just want everybody to forgive me,” Hunt said. “I know it’s going to be hard. I made a bad choice. ... I think I deserve it because if you really know me, and everybody that I’m really close to — I’ve had really close women who are friends — I’m so respectful to everyone. I made a bad decision at that time and I just hope that people forgive me.”