Bryant, 42, was charged with domestic assault and battery, assaut and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. Five witnesses filed statements that they saw Bryant choke his wife and force her into a car. He was freed on $5,000 bail the same day.
Bryant’s wife, Veronique Bryant, is claiming that Bryant never assaulted her. ESPN has declined to comment on the matter until the issue reaches a legal conclusion. Howard’s lawyer says the police officers were guilty of overreacting.
”Mr. Bryant was the victim of excessive force,” Eisenberg said, according to Recorder.com ”Police responded to the scene and rather than do an investigation, they made an arrest of a black man with a white wife.”
Bryant’s arrest brings up old issues of a black suspect and white cops. On one hand, it is very easy for African Americans to believe that police may have overstepped the parameters of their position and administered rough treatment toward Howard. You can be considered a suspect just because you are black, many assert. We know that an abundance of evidence suggests that officers are more aggressive toward African Americans as compared to their white counterparts.
On the other hand, with Mrs. Bryant now saying that her husband did not assault her despite the five witnesses, it raises the issue of battered woman’s syndrome, where the beaten woman doesn’t want her spouse prosecuted, or in some cases, persecuted.
The police, ESPN and the public are still sifting through the various stories to harvest as much of the truth as they can. With the prospect that many woman are beaten, then refuse to cooperate with the police and the courts, only to wind up dead later, the police are going to thoroughly investigate regardless of the Howards’ stance that no violence took place. –terry shropshire
