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Bethel charges dropped; Video released of punch

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Welp, I still believe you should not hit a female. Restraining her from further attack would have been the correct response. That is unless she's beating u down...
 
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That definitely proves he's a good guy. She must have burned his dinner, which justifies his savage assault on her.
 
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"Nigel Bethel II ‏@_NigelBethel 10h
I would also like to apologize to Amber Battle for what happened, I should never put my hands on a woman no matter what the situation is."

Only took 3 weeks to apologize....but hey it's a start
 
Still shouldn't hit a woman, but clearly not a criminal thing here. Maybe her battery was. AD jumped the gun trying to be big man instead of little chump. If school really has zero tolerance, but should be kick out. Note to criminoles: player maybe commits crime, it goes to grand jury for independent fair determination; NOT swept under covers until players hire attorney, get story straight, destroy evidence, refuse to answer questions, get rewarded with trophies, and fame. See, now we know Nigel is innocent and should be allowed to play football.
 
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112_cane said:
"Nigel Bethel II ‏@_NigelBethel 10h
I would also like to apologize to Amber Battle for what happened, I should never put my hands on a woman no matter what the situation is."

Only took 3 weeks to apologize....but hey it's a start
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His attorney and/or family might have told him to keep his *** off Twitter and his mouth publicly shut until this all played out. Maybe that's why the apology is "late".

Not defending him, just saying if I were advising him in this crazy-*** situation, that's likely what my advice would have been to him.
 
In the heat of the moment getting wacked by a female,, **** that,, she wants to act like a "Ninja", she will be drop kicked like a "Ninja".. Its easy to say.. "restrain" blah blah.. Im not promoting to hit a *****, but her actions were very amateur imo.. She should gets suspended at least a couple of games for this non-sense. That **** aint lady-like!
 
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she's suspended from the basketball team until december so i'm guessing that it wasn't just some small punch or shove to start the whole thing either.
 
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BWCD said:
112_cane said:
"Nigel Bethel II ‏@_NigelBethel 10h
I would also like to apologize to Amber Battle for what happened, I should never put my hands on a woman no matter what the situation is."

Only took 3 weeks to apologize....but hey it's a start
Click to expand...
His attorney and/or family might have told him to keep his *** off Twitter and his mouth publicly shut until this all played out. Maybe that's why the apology is "late".

Not defending him, just saying if I were advising him in this crazy-*** situation, that's likely what my advice would have been to him.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I thought and is pretty much standard, any lawyer is going to ask you to stay off Twitter and have no contact with the other party.
 
wall of text, but this is bethel's lawyer's full post from the texas tech scout forum.

tl;dr- nigel shouldn't have hit her, but video evidence says that she was the aggressor, hit him first from behind, and lied to the cops about how things went. he hopes to be reinstated.

Guys, I've been on RP for a long time. I don't post much and I usually never take my clients cases public. This one however required him being cleared, not only by the GJ, but also by the court of public opinion. I am praying Tech takes him back, but I doubt it. I do, however, believe this might clear the way for him to get into another school and get his education. I write this post because I respect many of you on the board, even though I don't know you. Forgive some of the typos, it's been a long day. And Pit, do I get a check for this story?

The first thing Nigel told me when he came to see me was that he just wanted to go to school. That said a LOT to me. He didn't mention revenge against Ms. Battle or football. He is a good kid. Respectful, has no criminal history and has been a great client. Did everything I asked. His high school coaches all talked about his work ethic and character. Plus, he's fast and a good football player.

The undisputed facts from the video and from the reports show that Amber Battle was not truthful with the police in her initial statement. Further, in her sworn statement she was untruthful. The "Eyewitness" was flat wrong (which shows you how much we should trust eyewitness testimony sometimes).

It all happened in a split second. They came down for a rebound, he's behind her and she's in better position, he had slightly fouled her arm, but his arms are straight up in the air when she gets the ball, he turns to go down the Court and she throws a haymaker at the side of his head. Hits him behind the ear. He turns immediately and takes a step towards her a throws a punch at the same time he is stepping. He kind of lets up and the punch could have been MUCH harder. He turns to walk away and you can tell he regrets it immediately. Let me be clear, he should not have punched her and he did. If it had been a couple of us guys at the rec (I was there from 92-96) it would have gone no further. If Amber Battle had told the truth, it would have gone no further. Heck, she didn't even report it, her coaches did.

That was it. Two punches. All happened in less than two seconds and it was over. She suffered from a comminuted fracture of the left zygomatic arch. Described as non-emergency and may not require surgery. At this point, it probably won't.

The whole story is the video and what tall tales she told the police. She was the clear aggressor towards Nigel and other players the entire game. At one point, 8 minutes before "the incident", Battle is seen in the video shoving Bethel to the ground after a foul when he attempted to get up. He just went back to playing basketball. Four minutes later she takes a guy down who's going for a layup.

His instinctive reaction and his punch to her face is not to be excused. No one, including Nigel, is trying to condone that. But the cause of action was real and his reaction, although wrong, does NOT justify the University's improper and hasty response. You can even see in the video that the punch is pulled back. Couldn't have been worse luck for the kid. A hair higher and she doesn't even get a bruise.

In less than 48 hours Nigel was released from his scholarship, kicked out of school without a penny to his name, and probably, at that point, denied any opportunity he may have to gain a higher education and improve his life. Ms. Battle? She received a one month suspension from playing basketball. The same Amber Battle who lied to the police in her initial report and lied in her sworn statement (perjury), then later apologized to Nigel and the University for “instigating” the incident. OnIy it wasn't an instigation, it was an assault.

In the initial police investigation, Ms. Battle stated that Nigel would shove her or hit her on every play up and down the court. The evidence shows this was not true. She stated at one point that Nigel knocked her out of bounds on a loose ball when the evidence shows that she was the one who shoved him and others down on more than one occasion. She also initially told police that she simply walked up behind Nigel and he turned and struck her in the face after he had committed a foul. All of this was false, as were the reports coming out concerning the incident. As stated Ms. Battle did not suffer a broken jaw. This whole incident was tragic and yet blown well out of proportion.

This is not fair. This is not right and the Grand Jury thought so little of the incident that they DID write a letter to Hocutt as well as no-billed the case. In a condensed version, the letter was addressed to Hocutt that stated:
"We believe he was unduly and prematurely punished. This was an unfortunate incident in a pick-up basketball game. This is a matter that should not result in criminal charges for either party. We approve of the accountability Texas Tech's athletic department placed upon the student athletes. Any assault does deserve immediate action, however, please ensure all testimonies, evidence and circumstances are reviewed prior to taking action which may forever alter a person's future. The well-being and character of student-athletes at Texas Tech is obviously of utmost importance. We desire to see Mr. Bethel reinstated......" If he is not reinstated, a public exoneration of his character on the part of TTU should be forthcoming, since Mr. Bethel's future opportunities for an education as well as an athletic career have been jeopardized."

Nigel Bethel should have been reinstated by Texas Tech the moment they saw the evidence and heard the "rest of the story". Or at the very least, Texas Tech should have stood by their “ZERO TOLERANCE” policy and removed both athletes from their scholarship. And better yet, implemented a policy that says if you commit a crime, any crime, you will be booted. Because, as the ZERO TOLERANCE policy now stands, it appears that you can DWI, fight, use dope, steal, MIP, PI, and all the other stupid things that students and student-athletes do, but you can't react instinctively (even though they train you to be aggressive instinctively) when someone assaults you from behind and punches you in the head.

Nigel Bethel committed to Texas Tech. He wanted his degree from my beloved University. He wanted to play for the Scarlet and the Black. He still does. I hope Tech stands by their statement that "From here it's possible".

I just thought you guys should know my thoughts and what the police reports and video shows. Feel free to agree or disagree. As JTechD stated, you might not want to believe the lawyer.
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In the heat of the moment getting and wacked by a female,, **** that,, she wants to act like a "Ninja", she will be drop kicked like a "Ninja".. Its easy to say.. "restrain" blah blah.. Im not promoting to hit a *****, but her actions were very amateur imo.. She should gets suspended at least a couple of games for this non-sense. That **** aint lady-like!
 
I apologize for pre judging the kid too quickly but why did the staff walk away from him in a year that we had only one cb in the class?
 
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