Cincinnati Bengals rookie receiver Jermaine Burton was accused of assaulting a woman he was dating, but she has decided not to press charges, according to police reports obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Burton, who is also facing eviction from his apartment, allegedly assaulted the woman on the morning of Dec. 30, several days prior to being a healthy scratch for the Bengals' Week 18 win over the Steelers. The woman suffered minor injuries but did not need medical attention. Investigators said Burton is suspected of using alcohol and also stated that force was involved.
Warning: the following includes graphic content that could be disturbing.
The woman called police and told them Burton met her at her apartment, chased her inside, damaged her phone and assaulted her, including chocking her. Before leaving the apartment, the caller said Burton held a knife to his neck and threatened to kill himself.
"Jermaine Burton on the Bengals just broke into my house," said the woman, who could be heard heavily sobbing. "He broke my phone. ... He's been like pretty abusive. He does a lot of things that I don't tolerate."
The woman said the two had been out the night before and that Burton had gotten mad at her. They parted ways that evening, but Burton was waiting for her when she arrived at home.
"He wouldn't let me go inside. And he choked me (unintelligible) in the hallway," she said. "He blocked the door so I couldn't go inside, and when I did go inside, he chased me upstairs. He broke into my house. He broke my phone. This is the second time he's broken my phone in the past month."
"He broke my phone. He hit me and he left."
The woman said the two had been drinking but that she was not drunk at the time of the call. Per the report, the woman initially wanted to file charges before changing her mind.
"He got in my dishwasher and he grabbed a knife and he held it to his neck," she said on the call. "I don't f---ing deserve this. I'm only 19."
Buton, 23, caught just four passes for 107 yards during his rookie season. He was suspended during the year for missing a walkthrough when he was expected to be part of the team's game plan. The Bengals defeated the Raiders, anyway, with Burton watching from the sidelines.
While his talent has seldom been called into question, Burton's maturity level has. It was one of the main reasons why he fell to the Bengals in the third round of last year's draft. Despite those questions, the Bengals still drafted Burton, who struggled both on and off the field during his first NFL season.
