East Carolinian

Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Travis Barlett

Media Credit: staff photo

ECU running back Jonathan Williams has been suspended indefinitely after being arrested for the second time in the month of the October and third time in the past year.

Williams, ECU's leading rusher, was charged with two misdemeanor accounts of assault with a deadly weapon on Tuesday after turning himself in at the Pitt County Detention Center, police said at a press conference on Wednesday.

A release sent out by the athletic department on Tuesday said that any football player could not return to the team until cleared by university and athletic department officials.

Williams, who leads the Pirates with 380 rushing yards and five touchdowns, was not at practice Tuesday or Wednesday.

"Any player charged with a crime will not represent ECU in any manner until cleared to do so by the university and athletic department administrators," Holtz said in the release. "Our basic expectation for every member of our program has always been that they must earn the right to represent ECU on the football field every week and that they will be held accountable for their actions on and off the field."

Holtz has declined to elaborate on the situation since Tuesday's release was sent out.

"I made a release yesterday and when it changes from that release, I will turn and inform everybody," he said after Wednesday's practice. "At this point, it's not a day-to-day manner."

Holtz also said that he hasn't addressed the situation with his team.

"I don't want it to be an ongoing saga, a day-to-day [thing]," Holtz said on Wednesday. "It's just like if you were to be injured, you close the ranks and you've got to move on. I hate to say that, but that's kind of where were are right now."

ECU will turn to sophomore Norman Whitley and senior Brandon Simmons for the time being. Whitley was the starter in ECU's last game, rushing for 60 yards on 15 carries in the Pirates' win over Memphis.

Whitley said that he recently text messaged Williams for support.

"I texted Jon and told him that if he needed anything to give me a call," Whitley said. "He's been my brother since day one, just like all these guys out here, and when something happens they bond together and get closer together. That's what we've been doing."

According to the police report, Williams, 20, was released on a $2,500 bond and has a court date scheduled for Nov. 19.

He was also arrested on Oct. 5 for resisting a public officer and last April for driving while intoxicated and underage consumption of alcohol.

Williams' latest arrest stems from an incident that happened outside of a North Campus Crossing apartment building early Sunday morning.

Police said Douglas Edwards, a 20-year-old male, and Bailey Hattem, a 19-year-old female, were both struck by Williams with a beer bottle during a confrontation outside of a party around 1:14 a.m. on Sunday. Hattem was struck on the arm and Edwards was struck on the neck. One of the victims identified Williams as the person who struck them and both were transported to the hospital and released for minor injuries, police said.

Just before the assault on Edwards and Hattem, a third victim, Tyler Kelly, 20, was approached by four men outside of the party. Kelly told the police that he was grabbed by the four men and when he tried to defend himself, he was struck several times in the head with a beer bottle.

Kelly received thirty stitches in the head, and police are still investigating who it was that struck him, as Kelly could do not identify the suspect. Police said the other three suspects are described as 5-foot-8 black males with dreadlocks.

A Pitt County court report showed that Williams was also arrested on Oct. 5 with a misdemeanor charge of resisting a public officer, and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 5 for that charge.

According to the arrest warrant posted on WITN.com, Williams "unlawfully and willfully did resist, delay and obstruct Officer M. McCoy...by refusing to follow command when asked to have a seat and not to move. At the time, the officer was discharging and attempting to discharge a duty of his office, investigating a domestic call."

Williams was released on a $1,000 bond for that charge.

The former J.H. Rose star was also arrested for driving while intoxicated and underage consumption of alcohol last April. His court date for those charges is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2009.

The sophomore has played in two football games since his Oct. 5 arrest, starting and leading ECU in rushing on Oct. 11 at Virginia and leading the Pirates in rushing Oct. 18 against Memphis.

"We have just been made aware of the situation and we are certainly going to gather facts from an internal standpoint and let the judicial system takes its course," Holtz said in Tuesday's release. "Any charge filed against an ECU player is something that we take very seriously, but since this is a legal matter, any further comment on our part would be inappropriate at this point."

The suspension is the football program's second in the month of October.

Jamar Bryant, who was the Pirates' second leading receiver at the time, was also suspended indefinitely on Oct. 8 for violation of team rules.

Bryant is not expected to return to the team this season.



This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.

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