Before you read what you're about to read, keep in mind that
former NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens and American soccer star
Hope Solo were planning to get married on Tuesday, and according
to one report, they still intend to do so.
UPDATE: They did so. According to Dave Mahler of Seattle radio
station 950 KJR, Stevens and Solo tied the knot on Tuesday
evening.
Now ... about their wedding day. Reports first came out on
Tuesday afternoon from Chris Daniels of Seattle TV station KING-
5, indicating that Stevens, who played in the NFL from 2002
through 2010, was arrested and charged with fourth-degree
domestic violence assault.
"Jerramy Stevens in orange jumpsuit accused of domestic
violence, involving Hope Solo," Daniels tweeted. "Court
Documents describe Hope Solo as Jerramy Stevens FIANCÉ ...
Solo/Stevens Incident happened at 3:45am on Monday, at home in
Kirkland according to court documents ... Court Documents
describe altercation, Solo had small amount of blood on elbow."
A few minutes after those reports, Daniels then said that a
judge in Kirkland, Wa. court found no probable cause to hold
Stevens.
"Stevens will be released," Daniels continued. "Solo said
nothing as she left courtroom, jumped into waiting vehicle ...
Attorneys for Stevens & Solo would not address whether the 2
were/are set to get married ... Police report says Stevens and
Solo were set to get married on Tuesday and argument was about
whether they'd live in FL or WA ... Police report says Marcus
Solo (Hope's brother) said there was altercation in house with
unknown person, and involved a stun gun."
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Marcus Solo was the
one who called Kirkland police, and when police came to the
scene, he had blood on his forehead and knees, and a bruised
eye. Hope solo then emerged from the house, intoxicated and with
a laceration on her elbow. She did not cooperate with police and
told her brother not to say anything. When police swept the
house, they found eight intoxicated people, a woman in the
kitchen with a hip injury, and Stevens on the floor of an
upstairs bedroom, claiming that he was sleeping, not hiding.
Stevens had blood on his cheek and his shirt. He admitted that
he had been arguing with Solo, and since police have to make an
arrest when there is a domestic violence call, Stevens was
arrested and charged with fourth-degree assault.
After Stevens' release, Daniels reported that -- if possible --
the situation was about to get even stranger.
"Solo did not speak to media," Daniels tweeted. "There are
multiple indications she will be marrying Jerramy Stevens
tonight ... Court documents, and Bridemaids Dresses."
We're not sure how YOUR wedding day went, but it probably
(hopefully) didn't look anything like this.
It may be a while before all the facts are unearthed, but
Stevens has passed through the last decade-and-a-half in a haze
of criminal confrontations and eventual escape routes based on
his athletic ability. He was charged with felony assault in high
school, violated the terms of his home confinement with a
marijuana charge, and was eventually able to plead that charge
out to misdemeanor assault and time served.
You see, the University of Washington had a rising star on its
hands.
In 2000, Stevens was not charged in an alleged rape that still
burns a lot of people familiar with the incident. Then-King
County prosecutor Norm Maleng, who had a history of letting
football players off with slaps on the wrist in potential
criminal situations, said that there was "insufficient evidence"
to charge Stevens.
Maryann Parker, a 14-year veteran of the Seattle Police
Department at that time, was the investigating officer.
"I thought he should have been charged," Parker told the Seattle
Times. "I think most people in the Police Department thought he
should have been charged.
From the police perspective, I think there was overwhelming
evidence that a crime had occurred. And then I think we should
have left it to a jury to decide.
I think we just felt, in our unit and in the Police Department
as a whole, that this case was handled differently. And we felt
it was because he was a University of Washington football star."
Stevens wasn't done with his college antics -- in May of 2001,
he slammed his pickup truck into the side of a retirement home,
drove away, and tried to lie about the incident when he was
caught.
This preferential treatment didn't stop when Stevens became an
NFL player. If anything, it became more prevalent. Selected in
the first round by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2002 NFL Draft,
Stevens faced a litany of DUI and drug charges throughout his
career with the Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Perhaps more
disturbing was the general sense among those familiar with
Stevens' time in Seattle that he got away with things -- traffic
stops, lack of effort and preparation in his profession,
property damage -- that others would have had to answer for.
Stevens was out of the NFL after the 2010 season, but trouble
seems to follow him wherever he goes. In that sense, Tuesday's
bit of insanity came as no surprise.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/jerramy-
stevens-arrested-released-domestic-assault-charge-may-011404454--
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