Yihyun Jeong

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Scottsdale Police Department is recommending that city prosecutors charge Arizona Cardinals safety Chris Clemons in the May 8 assault of a 25-year-old woman outside a downtown Scottsdale nightclub, according to police documents.

A woman was knocked unconscious outside the International Boutique Nightclub near Saddlebag Trail and Camelback Road, but witness accounts of what happened vary, according to statements gathered by Scottsdale detectives in a police report obtained by The Arizona Republic.

Sgt. Ben Hoster, a spokesman for Scottsdale police, said police have recommended to city prosecutors that Clemons, 30, be charged with assault with reckless injury and disorderly conduct.

Joe Flanagan, Clemons agent, had no immediate comment. He said Clemons was working out Wednesday morning and unable to be reached.

A punch in a parking lot

The police report includes several statements from witnesses and law-enforcement officers, with interviews taking place through May, June and July. According to the report:

About 2:30 a.m. May 8, Scottsdale police officers and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies heard a commotion in a parking lot outside the club and observed a physical altercation between a man and a woman. The man and a woman attempted to drive off, but they were intercepted and detained for questioning by two officers as other officers approached the group. After questioning, the two were allowed to drive off.

Other officers, however, soon found a victim nearby, bleeding from her nose and mouth. The report indicates that she was stumbling as she was being assisted by a friend who told police he had witnessed what had happened.

He told police that the victim had been “completely knocked out,” hitting her head on the ground as she fell backward. He told police he could identify Clemons as the suspect because they had been hanging out inside the nightclub before the incident occurred.

The victim said Clemons, whom she knew because he was in a relationship with her friend, had punched her with a closed fist after she got into a fight with the woman he was with that evening. She told police that they had taken “a couple of swings” at each other after Clemons had asked the woman to fight the victim, according to the report.

The victim told police that the two were separated but that suddenly “a fist coming from the right,” struck her in the center of her face. She said Clemons must have thrown the punch because he was the only person standing to her right side at the time.

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Police learned that the victim’s friend and Brandon Person, a former Cardinals safety, who was in a group with Clemons, assisted the victim to her vehicle, while Clemons and the woman walked away, according to the police report.

The victim was treated for her injuries at a hospital.

Interviews conducted by investigators in May and June found that Clemons had invited the victim and her friends into the nightclub’s VIP area the night the alleged assault took place. Statements from the victim, Clemons, Person and other witnesses said the victim was kicked out of the club by security officers after she got into a verbal argument with a man in the group she had dated in the past, who was friends with Clemons.

The victim waited outside the nightclub to confront the group as they left later that night, according to the interviews in the report.

In an interview conducted June 11, Clemons denied repeatedly that he had assaulted the victim in the parking lot. He told police he believed she had been punched by a woman she had been confronting, but that he did not know who that woman was.

Clemons said he initially thought about breaking up the fight but decided to let nearby officers handle the situation, adding that the victim had thrown the first punch.

Person told detectives a similar account, saying he witnessed the victim being punched unconscious by the woman she had been fighting, not Clemons. He told police he went over to the victim to check on her and to assist her before he left.

NFL playing career

Clemons was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in 2009 and played five seasons there, then spent five months with the Houston Texans in 2014 before signing with the Cardinals in December of that year.

Clemons appeared in five games with the Cardinals last season, collecting three tackles. The team reached an injury settlement with him and then waived him after he suffered a hamstring injury against the Detroit Lions on Oct. 11.

Clemons was later re-signed and appeared in the final two games of the regular season against the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks. He was inactive during the Cardinals playoff run last season.

He is listed on the Cardinals' roster after signing a one-year contract worth $885,000 in February. But that salary is not guaranteed; Clemons has to make the team to earn it.

That's not a sure thing because the Cardinals have a number of talented players at safety, including Tyrann Mathieu and Tony Jefferson, who have experience in the starting lineup. The team also signed defensive back Mike Jenkins on Tuesday.