Montee Ball has gone from record-breaking and beloved Wisconsin Badgers running back to NFL bust and now a two-time alleged abuser. After being charged with domestic battery and related charges from an incident in a Madison hotel back in February, Ball is facing a new set of very serious charges for a separate incident back in 2014.
According to Ed Trevelen of Madison.com, Ball is facing charges of strangulation and suffocation and with substantial battery, both felonies, and with two counts of domestic disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, for alleged incidents in June 2014 with his former girlfriend.
He must now answer these charges along with misdemeanor domestic abuse-related charges leveled against Ball after his more recent girlfriend told police that Ball injured her after he threw her across their hotel room in February.
All of these incidents have one theme in common — Ball and alcohol.
The criminal complaint filed on Thursday details a very disturbing incident with his former girlfriend back in June of 2014, per Madison.com:
Ball’s former girlfriend told police that she and Ball had just returned to Madison on June 28, 2014, after a week-long trip to Paris. Ball wanted to go out, while she wanted to stay in. They argued, and he went out to a bar.
She tried to find Ball at the bar later, and again they argued. Ball left the bar, and she found him again later at another bar. He left, and she followed him to his hotel, the Double Tree at 525 W. Johnson St.
At the hotel, they had a loud argument in the lobby. Other guests there suggested they separate for an hour to cool off, so Ball left. When he returned to their room later, the woman told police, he was drunk, and the argument resumed.
After that, the woman said, Ball put one or both of his hands on her throat and lifted her off her feet, pushing her against a wall. She said she blacked out for a few seconds. After releasing his grip, the woman said, Ball picked her up and threw her out of the hotel room into the hallway.
She told police she heard the door open again, and Ball threw out her shoes and purse.
The woman told police the phone bruised her face, and her neck was swollen and sore with red marks where he had gripped it.
No matter the accelerants to these incidents, there is simply no excuse for the behavior exhibited by Ball. If these allegations are true, Ball clearly needs to get help for alcohol abuse and his anger issues.
Those issues were things he wouldn’t apparently seek help for back in 2014, per the criminal complaint:
The woman, who lived in an apartment in Madison where she said Ball often lived during the off-season, said Ball came to her apartment a day or two later, and she told him she would end their relationship if he didn’t seek help for his abusive behavior.
Ball told her he wouldn’t seek treatment for anything, the woman told police. She told him the relationship was over, and left the apartment to allow Ball to gather his things. When she returned, she found that he had damaged several things in the apartment, including her television and several photos and other things he had given her.
Ball, who was with the Denver Broncos during the time of these alleged incidents spent the 2014 season with the team but was released following training camp and was briefly on the New England Patriots practice squad this past December.
However, he was not retained following the season.
As for his current legal troubles…Of course, the judicial system still has to play itself out, but Ball is in for a world of hurt if found guilty — as he should be.
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