Safety Jabrill Peppers of the New England Patriots was put on the commissioner’s exempt list on Wednesday. He was detained on Saturday on a number of charges, including pushing and strangling his fiancée, according to reports.
In an interview on “The Breakfast Club” morning show on Friday, team owner Robert Kraft offered his thoughts on the matter. He emphasized that the team will wait to act until the facts are established before parting ways with Peppers, even though he acknowledged that the team would cut ties with him if the charges against him are accurate.
Kraft likened the circumstances to his own arrest for soliciting business at a massage parlor, which resulted in the charges being dropped following an appeals court ruling that the films used in the sting were obtained illegally.
Today’s world has a lot of information on social media, most of which is unjustly published in these kinds of circumstances. The first time you read it, it makes you queasy. However, we’ve discovered—I’m not familiar with the specifics of this situation—that once [Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo] is placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, independent investigation is conducted. We’re working on ours. And he’s gone if the reports about him are accurate.
Some people have claimed that this was a set-up, and the information that has been released is untrue. Life has taught me that if someone is willing, let them take any one of the three of you. You possess profiles. It’s not true, but someone could fabricate something and say something. That has actually happened to me. I used to tell this to all of my important contacts. When making significant life decisions, you should measure nine times and cut once. And in this instance, I believe that he has left if the reports about him are accurate, but we need further information.”
Peppers will be paid even if he is not allowed to participate in Patriots activities since he is on the commissioner’s exempt list. After agreeing to a three-year, $24 million contract with the organization during the offseason, he is presently in his debut season with the group.
Paramedics attended to Peppers’ girlfriend’s head and neck injuries at the scene. She told police that Peppers “placed his hand on my neck and banged my head against the wall, then he pushed me down the stairs.” According to reports, Peppers told police that his girlfriend sought to have sex with him without a condom and that they got into a fight when he refused. He denied touching her, saying she was asked to leave and then fell down the stairs on her own.
After playing on Sunday, Peppers was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation, and possession of a Class B substance—possibly cocaine—at his arraignment on Monday, according to ESPN. Peppers entered a not guilty plea to all of the accusations. After posting $2,500 bail, he was told to keep his distance from the accused victim.
In court, his lawyer, Marc Brofsky, allegedly asserted that he had videotaped evidence that “sheds considerable doubt on the charges.”
