A man hits a woman, threatens her life, she calls police, the man is arrested, charged, the woman, now fearing her life being turned upside down, recants.
This happens every hour of every day, and nobody pays attention.
Three high-profile cases involving a prominent college basketball coach, a top pro boxer and the president of UFC should be getting more attention than they are.
University of Texas basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested in the early-morning hours of Dec. 12 after his fiancée, Randi Trew, called 9-1-1 and told authorities that Beard “choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around, and going nuts.”
The arrest report notes that Trew told police that night that she “could not breathe, he did it probably for like 5 seconds.”
On Dec. 23, Trew said in a statement that she, in fact, was the initiator of a “struggle,” that Beard acted in self-defense, and claimed that she never told police that Beard had strangled her.
“Chris and I are deeply saddened that we have brought negative attention upon our family, friends, and the University of Texas, among others,” Trew said in her statement. “As Chris’ fiancée and biggest supporter, I apologize for the role I played in this unfortunate event. I realize that my frustration, when breaking his glasses, initiated a physical struggle between Chris and myself.
“Chris did not strangle me, and I told that to law enforcement that evening. Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I do not refute that. I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted.”
Beard, it should be noted, earns a $5.26 million a year salary for coaching basketball at UT.
The school put him on an indefinite suspension while the legal issues with the felony assault charge are sorted out.
One would assume that Texas would be able to fire Beard for cause if he were to be convicted on the felony charge, and if that were to come about, he wouldn’t ever get a shot at another plum job like he has now.
The story with the boxer involves a guy named Gervonta Davis, “Tank,” his nickname. Davis, a Baltimore native, was arrested on Dec. 27 in Broward County, Fla., after hitting his girlfriend, Vanessa Posso, a social media influencer, with a closed-hand slap.
He was charged with a misdemeanor, so, not the legal exposure that Beard is facing in Texas, with a felony that can carry prison time.
Posso, in her call to 9-1-1, clearly feared for her life, telling the dispatcher that she needed help.
“He’s going to kill me,” she said in the call.
After being released from jail, Davis took to Instagram to make the claim that the 9-1-1 call was a ploy for money.
This from a guy with multiple arrests, including another on a domestic violence charge involving Posso, in 2020, and faces a March 31 trial on multiple charges stemming from a 2020 hit-and-run in Baltimore.
Posso, two days after Davis’ cringy Instagram post, recanted.
“While the emotions were running high, I made an unnecessary call to law enforcement in an intense moment while I was frantic,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Gervonta did not harm me or our daughter. Today, we have sought the help necessary to move forward with our lives. I am confident that we will succeed within our co-parenting dynamic with the counseling provided to us.”
And so, the world moves on, and Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) gets his Showtime pay-per-view fight on Saturday night with Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs).
You can tune in for $74.99, or if you’re so inclined, the show is emanating from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and the nosebleeds start at $126.
Davis is guaranteed a $1.5 million payout, and is likely to make in the range of $5.5 million if the pay-per-view buys meet projections.
The story involving the president of UFC is Dana White, who in a video published by TMZ was seen slapping his wife, Anne, after she had slapped him following a brief verbal exchange on New Year’s Eve.
“You’ve heard me say over the years, There is never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman, and now here I am on TMZ talking about it,” White said. “My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years. We’ve known each other since we were 12 years old. We’ve obviously been through some s— together. We’ve got three kids.
“This is one of those situations that’s horrible, I’m embarrassed — but it’s also one of those situations that right now we’re more concerned about our kids. We have three kids and obviously, since the video popped up, we’ve shown the kids the video and we’re more focused on our family right now.
“I’m literally making no excuses for this thing at all. It’s never happened before. It’s the first time it’s ever happened. People are going to say what they’re going to say and it is what is. Whatever people say is deserved. I deserve it.”
Anne White, in a statement to TMZ, said “nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years,” she told TMZ. “To say this is out of character for him is an understatement. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Unfortunately, we were both drinking too much on New Year’s Eve, and things got out of control, on both sides. We’ve talked this through as a family and apologized to each other. I just hope people will respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.”
White, who has been president of UFC since 2001, earns a reported $20 million annually at the job.
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Chris Graham
