San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster ‘threw a dog across the room’ before he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend, according to a newpolice report.
Foster, 24, was charged with felony domestic violence after being accused of punching his 28-year-old girlfriend in the head 10 times and rupturing her ear drum in a brutal attack at their home in northern California in February, and was arrested the same month.
Elissa Ennis later recanted the allegations that Foster had assaulted her, the Mercury News reports.
In her original report, Ennis, 28, told police that she and Foster had been arguing the night before and he had become angry and thrown her dog across the room.
The animal was not injured.
Ennis said the row continued the next day and escalated to where Foster began throwing her clothes and other belongings off the balcony.
The linebacker also dragged his girlfriend outside repeatedly, but she kept finding her way back inside, the report states.
During the fight, she told police that Foster ‘punched her in the head 8 to 10 times,’ rupturing her eardrum.
Ennis told police she had been trying to call 911 at one point, when she fell over. Foster then grabbed the phone and smashed it, she said in the report. She later ran out to a passing motorist who she asked to call 911 on her behalf.
When police arrived, they found a SIG Sauer 516 short-barreled rifle, a loaded .38 caliber revolver and said that the home smelled of marijuana.
Despite Ennis’ decision to drop the charges, and a video from his lawyer purportedly proving the football star’s innocence, Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged him with domestic violence, forcefully attempting to dissuade a witness, and possession of an assault weapon.
In a statement, recanting her allegations, Ennis claimed through her attorney that Foster ‘did not strike her, injure her or threaten her’ and that she had been extremely upset at the time and ‘told him if he broke up with her she would “trash his career”‘.
Ennis claimed her head injuries and damaged ear drum stemmed from a fight with another woman.
But the District Attorney’s Office, which is reviewing video of the fight between the two women, said that they were continuing to pursue the charges.
‘Sadly too often, victims of domestic violence for a host of reasons choose not to cooperate with the process that holds their abusers accountable,’ said Jim Demertzis, supervising attorney in the DA’s family violence unit.
‘Our focus is on holding accountable those who hurt their intimate partners,’ Santa Clara prosecutor Kevin Smith said in a statement.
‘Our office handles between four and five thousand domestic violence cases each year. We only hope that this case illuminates the tragic regularity of the rest.’
Foster is scheduled in court Tuesday morning. He posted $75,000 bail but has agreed to stay away from the 49ers facility during the offseason workouts.
The 49ers pledged to cut him if a court finds him guilty of domestic assault.
The National Football League has cracked down on domestic violence cases in recent years.
Any player involved in a domestic violence case can be banned for up to six games in the first instance. A second incident can lead to a lifetime ban.
‘We continue to monitor all developments in this matter which is under review of the personal conduct policy,’ the NFL said in a statement.
The 49ers said the details of Foster’s charges were ‘disturbing’.
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