Chicago Bears player faces domestic assault charge after incident at Charlotte hotel
Chicago Bears defensive lineman Mario Edwards faces a misdemeanor domestic assault charge in Charlotte stemming from an October altercation in an uptown hotel room the night before his team faced the Carolina Panthers.
The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Tuesday that a criminal summons has been issued for the 26-year-old Edwards but not yet served. An office spokeswoman said the assault case against Edwards is “pending.”
An incident report from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department indicates officers were called to the Hilton Charlotte Center City hotel just after midnight on Oct. 18 — the same day the Bears beat the Panthers 23-16.
Edwards made the 911 call, according to the complaint. The police report says CMPD answered a call “in reference to a female hitting a male with her hand and scratching his forehead.”
Both Edwards and the woman were listed as victims on the report. It also indicates that an unnamed 28-year-old female reported receiving bruises and scratches, and that she was treated and released that morning from Atrium Health-Main.
TMZ, citing court documents in the case, said the woman claimed to be dating Edwards at the time, and that she was pregnant when the incident occurred. She also said Edwards had been violent with her before.
According to the woman, Edwards became angry when she refused to have sex with him that night. She says when she took out her phone to record Edwards berating her, the 6-foot-3, 280-pound defensive lineman hit her in the eye with his hand. He then dragged her from the hotel room, and down the hallway to an elevator where she says he struck her in the arm, according to TMZ.
Edwards’ agent, Peter Schaffer, told the online publication that his client did not do “anything that raised to the level of domestic violence or any violence.”
“When she started to scream and yell, Mario did what he’s been told. Walk away and de-escalate the situation,” Schaffer said.
The NFL has been roiled in recent years by domestic assault charges against its players, most notably Ray Rice, Ezekiel Elliot and Tyreek Hill. The Rice case in 2014, in which the Baltimore Ravens running back was shown on surveillance video punching his then-fiancee unconscious during an argument on an elevator, led to a revamping of the league’s policy concerning violence toward women.
Edwards, who played college football at Florida State, joined the Bears before the season. He recorded a sack and a tackle for loss in Chicago’s win against the Panthers.
The incident at the Hilton occurred a few blocks and six years removed from one of Charlotte’s notable cases of domestic violence by an NFL player.
In 2014, then-Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was convicted of beating his former girlfriend in his uptown condo. In a police report, the victim said Hardy struck her in part due to his residual anger over her affair with the rapper Nelly.
The charges were dropped after Hardy appealed and the woman did not show up for his new trial.
In 2018, former Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth was released in prison after almost 19 years for his role in the 1999 fatal shooting of Cherica Adams of Charlotte, who was pregnant with Carruth’s son at the time.
