The Washington Football Team has released popular running back Derrius Guice less than two hours after he was arrested on domestic violence charges in Loudoun County, Virginia.
Washington released a statement stating that it had learned of a domestic violence-related incident on Thursday, and met with Guice on Friday to let him know that they were cutting ties.
“This afternoon we learned that there were multiple charges filed against Derrius. Upon review of the nature of these charges and following internal discussions, we have decided to release Derrius immediately.”
According to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s office (via ESPN’s John Keim), the charges stemmed from three separate domestic violence-related incidents earlier this year: back on February 14th, March 13th, and April 17th, at Guice’s home in Ashburn, Virginia.
“The failure to fully investigate allegations of events, which allegedly took place months ago, is inexplicable,” the statement read. “Derrius will defend these charges in court, where a full vetting of the allegations will take place, in contrast to actions by local law enforcement and the Washington Football Team that assumed the worst, directly contradicting every sense of fairness and due process.”
Guice, 23, was charged with one count of strangulation and three counts of assault and battery, and also was charged with one count of destruction of property.
Guice’s attorney issued the following statement:
“Derrius has continued to work excitedly hard to contribute to the Washington Football Team and was expected to be a key player this season, yet he was released without a single question as to what occurred,” Guice’s attorney said.
“Derrius will defend these charges in court, where a full vetting of the allegations will take place, in contrast to actions by local law enforcement and the Washington Football Team that assumed the worst, directly contradicting every sense of fairness and due process.”
