opinion

Davon Durant gets misdemeanor in domestic violence case

It starts here. Years from now, I wonder if anybody will look back on this day with regret.

This morning, an ASU football recruit accused of belting his girlfriend and grabbing her neck pleaded guilty.

To disorderly conduct.

A misdemeanor.

As she stood by his side.

ASU recruit Davon Durant was arrested in early March after his girlfriend Kelsi Langley reported that he hit her in the face and grabbed her around the neck during an argument inside an SUV.

Tempe police reported that 19-year-old Langley had a bruise below her left eye and bruising around her neck that was consistent with finger marks. Durant was indefinitely suspended from the ASU football program.

Within a couple of days, however, Langley recanted her story, saying the neck marks were really hickeys and the accusations were made out of spite,

Not only didn't he hit her but "he's the kindest person I've ever met" and it was her fault for getting angry and besides all that, "the media has blown everything out of proportion."

Cue the 911 tape:

Caller: "Yeah, there's some guy like beating a girl in a car."

Operator: "And he's hitting her?"

Caller: "Yeah. They're in the car. The girl's like screaming like these guys I just ran into said they saw her in the... hitting her"

Police say witnesses back up her original story. Her injuries back up her original story.

So, to recap. Either Langley wrongly accused her boyfriend of smacking her around, causing him unwarranted pain and dealing a low blow of her own to women who really are beaten and bruised and often not believed when they come forward.

Or Langley backed down to rehabilitate her boyfriend's reputation so he'll have a shot at playing football at ASU.

He'll be sentenced in June to nothing much and no doubt, he'll be on the field this fall, to the cheers of ASU fans.

I hope he learned his lesson. The problem is, I fear what lesson he might have learned.

Athletes (and others) often get away with abuse because their abusers let them. Then some day, the abuse escalates and people wonder how such a paragon suddenly became a predator.

I hope that's not the story here, that someday some woman doesn't have to look back at this day and wonder what if.