Kent Somers

azcentral sports

On Wednesday, Arizona Cardinals backup running back Jonathan Dwyer became the latest NFL player to be arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

Phoenix police arrested Dwyer, 25, on suspicion of aggravated assault on his 27-year-old wife and on suspicion of aggravated assault involving his 1-year-old son, a police spokesman said. The woman suffered a broken bone.

Police said Dwyer was arrested Wednesday at the team's training facility in Tempe before practice. Dwyer had been in the Cardinals' locker room during media access earlier Wednesday.

The Cardinals announced late Wednesday afternoon that they had deactivated Dwyer from all team activities.

Dwyer posted a $25,000 cash bond and was released from custody early Thursday morning, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Dwyer's arrest comes during a tumultuous month in which the NFL and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, have been dealing with criticism for the league's handling of a series of domestic-violence cases involving players.

Goodell drew heavy criticism this summer when he suspended Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for just two games after Rice was seen on video dragging his unconscious fiancee from an elevator. On Sept 8, video from inside the elevator surfaced showing Rice knocking out his now-wife with a punch. Rice has since been suspended by the league indefinitely.

Then, last Thursday, Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson was indicted in Texas in a child-injury case involving his 4-year-old son, whom authorities say Peterson spanked with a tree branch or switch. Peterson also has been suspended indefinitely by his team.

Goodell, who admitted he did not handle the Rice case correctly at first, has started to focus the NFL's attention on domestic violence. In August, penalties for offenders were strengthened to a minimum six-game suspension for first-time offenders.

And earlier this week, Goodell hired four women to be advisers, all of whom have experience with domestic violence and sexual assault, to help shape new policies in these areas.

Dwyer is the second Cardinals player involved in an ongoing domestic-violence case. Linebacker Daryl Washington, who is on indefinite suspension for violations of the NFL's substance-abuse policy, pleaded guilty in March to assaulting the mother of his child and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation. He has yet to be disciplined by the NFL for the conviction.

In the Dwyer case, police said the woman, whom they did not name, left the state with the child shortly after the incidents, which occurred on two separate days in late July.

She did not report them until Sept. 11, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman. He did not say why she came forward last week, and it could not be determined if she was prompted by the Rice controversy.

Investigators have spent the time since collecting medical records to verify some of the allegations and interviewing witnesses, some of whom reported the incidents to police as the arguments between the couple became heated at their southeast Phoenix home.

Police initially responded to the home on July 21 after neighbors called to report a disturbance, Crump said.

Dwyer has admitted his involvement in the incidents but denied the allegations of physical abuse, Crump said.

The woman, whom police identified as Dwyer's wife and the mother of his child, answered the door and told officers that the argument was verbal and that Dwyer was not at the home, Crump said.

"They were convinced that the fight was verbal (and) that was called in by a third party," Crump said. "She convinced them of that while he was hiding in the home."

Investigators now believe Dwyer was hiding in the bathroom of the home until police left, Crump said.

The woman told police that Dwyer physically assaulted her. Dwyer and the woman got into another argument a day later, on July 22, and police believe he took the woman's cellphone and threw it from the second floor of their home, Crump said.

Police believe that Dwyer, during the second incident, also took a shoe and threw it toward their 1-year-old child.

Investigators said Dwyer threatened to harm himself on the night the incident occurred in an attempt to keep the woman from contacting police, Crump said.

Dwyer sent text messages to the woman, which detectives have also collected, Crump said.

Police were serving a search warrant at Dwyer's residence in southeast Phoenix early Wednesday evening.

The Cardinals released a statement Wednesday saying that the team is closely monitoring the situation.

Crump said team officials have been cooperating with police since learning of the allegations. "They have been on the phone with us most of the afternoon," he said.

Dwyer was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail on suspicion of aggravated assault against the woman and aggravated assault against the child for throwing the shoe toward the toddler, Crump said.

Dwyer also faces allegations of preventing the use of a phone and criminal damage for property that was damaged or destroyed during the July incidents, he said.

The Cardinals released the following statement late Wednesday afternoon: "We became aware of these allegations this afternoon when notified by Phoenix police and are cooperating fully.

"Given the serious nature of the allegations, we have taken the immediate step to deactivate Jonathan from all team activities. We will continue to closely monitor this as it develops and evaluate additional information as it becomes available."

Dwyer could not be reached for comment, and his agent did not return messages.

The NFL did not respond to a request for comment.

Dwyer is in his fifth season. He played his first four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him out of Georgia Tech in the sixth round in 2010.

A free agent this offseason, Dwyer signed a one-year, $795,000 contract with the Cardinals in March.

In two games this season, Dwyer rushed 16 times for 51 yards and a touchdown.

Along with Dwyer, Rice and Peterson, the NFL also is dealing with cases involving defensive linemen Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers and Ray McDonald of the San Francisco 49ers, the Cardinals' opponent on Sunday in Glendale.