Reuben Foster girlfriend admits she lied about domestic violence
Former Alabama and current San Francisco 49ers linebacker
Reuben Foster may be in a good position to avoid serious punishment after he was charged by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office on felony counts of domestic violence, forcefully attempting to prevent a victim from reporting a crime, and possession of an assault weapon after their investigation of a dispute involving Foster and his girlfriend on Feb. 11.
The attorney for Foster's girlfriend, whose name has not been released, told
The Sacramento Bee that her client initially lied to police about how she obtained her injuries on the night in question.
“(Foster) did not strike her, injure her or threaten her,” Stephanie Rickard, the girlfriend's attorney, said. "She said Foster tried to end the relationship with her after learning of the fight. She was extremely upset and told him if he broke up with her she would ‘trash his career.’"
The 28-year-old woman was forced to go to the hospital with injures that included a ruptured eardrum. Foster was allegedly the cause of her ailments, however, Rickard said her client sustained the injuries in a fight with another woman. The attorney also told the Sacramento Bee that there is video of that confrontation between Foster's girlfriend and the unknown woman.
Rickard also indicated that Foster's girlfriend has informed local prosecutors of her updated story, but the district attorney's office still chose to file charges against the 49ers linebacker. Prosecutors allege that Foster punched his girlfriend eight to ten times during the dispute while also forcefully dragging her from the residence, causing bruising and a ruptured eardrum in the process. Officers responding to the incident also found a Sig Sauer 516 short-barreled rifle in the residence, which led to Foster being hit with an assault weapon charge. The former All-American was also charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of large capacity weapon magazine, but that claim was later dismissed.
Foster was a first-round pick last year after four seasons at Alabama. On April 14, Crimson Tide coach
Nick Sabancommented on the case involving his former star player.
“We hate it very much when any player that we had here, who did a great job for us here at Alabama -- great job -- in terms of how he represented the university, how he represented our program, the contribution that he made to our program…” Saban said. “Obviously we have a player that you’ll probably ask me about that has legal issues:
Reuben Foster. I don’t think I’m in a position to comment, because I don’t know the details and the facts."
Foster is currently not participating in 49ers team activities while his legal matters proceed. He stood out as a rookie with the 49ers last season, totaling 72 tackles in 10 games and performing at a level that made him one of the league's best defensive rookies when healthy.
San Francisco has stated that the organization will wait until Foster's case concludes to decide on his future with the team.