Linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested in Tampa Bay, Florida, on suspicion of beating a woman. This is the second time this year that Foster has been arrested in connection with domestic violence involving the same victim, and the San Francisco 49ers acted quickly to remove him from the club.
The 24-year-old Foster was let go from the 49ers, the team said in a tweet on Sunday morning.
Foster was taken into custody after Tampa police were contacted shortly after 9 p.m. on Saturday to look into a report of domestic abuse at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Tampa, where the team is staying ahead of its Sunday afternoon game against the Tampa Buccaneers.
According to a criminal report affidavit acquired by ABC News, 6-foot-1, 280-pound linebacker Foster got into a heated dispute with his former live-in girlfriend Elissa Ennis, 28, which allegedly developed into a physical assault.
“The victim stated that during the altercation Foster slapped her phone out of her hand, pushed her in the chest area and slapped her with an open hand on the right side of her face,” according to the police report.
According to authorities, Foster was taken into jail when they observed an inch-long scratch on Ennis’ left collarbone.
At 11:11 p.m., Foster was checked into the Hillsborough County Jail.
His bond was set at $2,000 when he showed up for a court appearance on Sunday morning. A judge barred him from communicating with Ennis initially told police officers who responded to the domestic violence call on February 11 that Foster hit her at least ten times, dragged her out of his house, threw her to the ground and spit on her, broke her phone and threw their bulldog at her. However, during the investigation, authorities learnt that Foster and Ennis had previously lived together and had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for the previous three years.
Judge Nona Klippen of Santa Clara County, California, dropped Foster’s domestic abuse accusations due to “insufficient cause.” Foster entered a plea of not guilty to a weapons charge, which was later dropped to a misdemeanour. He was also ordered to perform 232 hours of community service, be on probation for two years, and not be allowed to own any firearms or ammunition.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers announced at the time that the team had a zero-tolerance policy against domestic abuse.
“We can promise you guys — if there’s someone whoever hits their significant other, girlfriends, some person like that, that person is not going to be on our team,” Shanahan stated.
The 49ers welcomed Foster back to the team after he was found not guilty of the allegations.
The 49ers selected Foster in the first round of the 2017 draft.
Because of his arrest in Alabama on a misdemeanour charge of having marijuana, Foster violated the NFL’s conduct and substance-abuse regulations, which resulted in a two-game suspension this season.
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