The world is still in shock from seeing the video of former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City elevator. But while that footage was undeniably horrible, there have been a lot of domestic disputes circling the NFL that are even more heinous.
We’ve highlighted five cases of domestic violence in the NFL that people may have forgotten about. Take a look.
Rae Carruth
In 1999, the Carolina Panthers wide receiver paid someone to shoot a woman who was 8 months pregnant with his child. They managed to save the life of the baby, but the child’s mother slipped into a coma and later died. Carruth went to the police and posted a $3 million bail, on condition that if either Adams or the infant died, he would turn himself in. After Adams died, however, he fled. He was later found hiding in the trunk of a car. Watch a 10-minute recap of the Rae Carruth trial here.
Chris Henry
In 2009, the Bengals wide receiver died after falling out of the back of a moving truck driven by his fiancée, Loleini Tonga. The couple had a long history of domestic disputes. According to reports, while they were visiting her parents in Charlotte, things got bad between the two. Tonga got into a pickup truck and tried to drive away; Henry jumped in the back and, at some point, fell out. It was later found out that Chris was living with brain damage from a previous sustained injury.
Jovan Belcher
On December 1, 2012, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his baby’s mother, Kasandra Perkins. Then Belcher drove to the team’s facility next to Arrowhead Stadium and took his own life in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and General Manager Scott Pioli. Before committing suicide, Belcher “thanked” Scott Pioli and asked him, as well as team owner Clark Hunt, to care for his infant daughter, Zoey.
Greg Hardy
In September of 2014, the Panthers player was accused of slamming his girlfriend, choking her, and threatening to kill her: “[Greg] picked me up over his head and threw me onto a couch covered in assault rifles and/or shotguns. I landed on those weapons. [Greg] bragged that all of those assault rifles were loaded,” his girlfriend Nicki Holder said. This brutal domestic violence was not caught on tape, however.
Kwame Harris
In January of 2013, Harris was arrested for felony domestic violence after he violently beat his boyfriend over soy sauce and underwear. Harris beat his then-boyfriend Dimitri Geier so badly he suffered several facial fractures that required surgery. According to Sporting News, it all started when Harris took issue with Geier pouring soy sauce on his rice during dinner at Su Hong restaurant in Menlo Park, Calif. Harris then revoked his offer to drive Geier to San Francisco International Airport. As Geier was retrieving his luggage to place into a cab, Harris attempted to pull Geier’s pants down, accusing Geier of stealing his underwear.
SOURCE: The Nation, Sporting News | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
