Jonathan Dwyer Arrested, Charged With Assault and Deactivated by AZ Cardinals; Says Relying on Faith
Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and deactivated from all team activities.
Dwyer was taken into custody on Wednesday, Sept. 17 and charged with one count of aggravated assault causing a fracture, one count of aggravated assault involving a minor, two counts of criminal damage, and one count of preventing the use of a phone in an emergency. He was able to pay the $25,000 cash bond early Thursday morning and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and not have any contact with the victims, a 27-year-old female and an 18-month-old child.
The NFL star admitted to incidents that took place at his home in July. Neighbors reportedly heard a fight and called the police who arrived at the home but did not make any arrest because Dwyer hid in the bathroom and the woman involved in the incident said no one else was home.
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"She said she was in an argument on the phone only," Sgt. Trent Crump told ESPN.
However, the very next day, there was another tussle between Dwyer and the woman, who claimed that he threw a shoe at his 18-month-old son. The running back then snatched the woman's cellphone and threw it from the second floor in order to prevent her from calling authorities. She later moved out of Arizona, taking the child with her and warning police that Dwyer made comments that he "was going to harm himself because of what had been going on."
The team was not made aware of the arrest until it happened and took action, showing the intensity of the NFL, which has seen at least four players arrested for abuse in the past months.
"Given the serious nature of the allegations, we have taken the immediate step to deactivate Jonathan from all team activities," the Cardinals said in a statement. "We will continue to closely monitor this as it develops and evaluate additional information as it becomes available."
Dwyer is a Christian player who has posted several inspirational quotes and passages to his Twitter feed, including one that states that God always sees all and rewards effort, as well as several Scriptures.
"But when times are tough and nothing is going your way, when you're hurting, when you should be on the sidelines nursing your wound, but instead you're still in the game; you're still getting to work on time; you're still being good to someone, you're still expecting God to turn it around, that gets God's attention in a new way," one post entitled "Keep Pressing" read.
