Michigan senior DE Frank Clark dismissed following domestic violence arrest (Updated)
– – – Update: 11/17 11:15 a.m. ET – – –
Michigan head coach Brady Hoke announced in a statement Monday morning that senior Frank Clark is dismissed from the program.
“Frank Clark has been dismissed for violating team rules from the Michigan football program,” Hoke said. “This is a tragic situation. Our student-athletes will be held accountable when their actions fail to meet the standard we have at Michigan. There is a legal process that will occur and we respect that process.”
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When news emerged on Sunday morning that Michigan senior defensive end Frank Clark was arrested for domestic violence, details were scarce. Later in the day however, the particulars of a disturbing incident emerged.
According to the Detroit Free-Press, Perkins Township (Ohio) police were called to a hotel in Sandusky, Ohio, late Saturday night. One officer, Martin Curran, arrived at the scene and saw Clark (Michigan had a bye this week) in the hotel parking lot. Curran approached Clark. Clark told Curran that there was “a disturbance.”
“You can call it what you want,” Clark told him, per the police report.
Per the Free-Press:
“Frank had an injury on his nose, wouldn’t really elaborate what happened, said that he was there with his girlfriend and she was having some problems and he said look at my face and you see my face and you’ll see her face,” Curran said in a Sunday night interview with the Free Press. “And he said he didn’t touch her.”
Clark told Curran that he “didn’t touch” the woman, his girlfriend, involved in the alleged assault.
After Curran and another officer surveyed the scene, they arrested Clark on two first-class misdemeanor charges – one for domestic violence and one for assault. Curran also determined that Clark was intoxicated.
When Curran entered the hotel room, Clark’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Diamond Hurt, was there.
“We went up to the room, there was a damaged lamp on the table, a damaged lamp on the wall and she’s got a large welt on the side of her cheek, she’s got marks on her neck,” Curran told the Free-Press. “She had what looked like rug burn on her one thigh. We have pictures of everything.”
Hurt told Curran that she and Clark got into an argument while lying in bed in their room.
She got angry, threw a TV remote control at him, and he responded by trying to restrain her on the bed. She told Curran that she tried to get loose by biting his nose. Then she said he pushed her head into the bed, they got off the bed and he punched her in the face, knocking her back and breaking a lamp. She stated that she threw an alarm clock at him as he prepared to leave the room.
Two of Hurt’s brothers were witnesses and “said they saw Clark hitting their sister and one said Clark had her against a wall, grabbing her by the throat, picking her off the ground and slamming her down.”
Hurt told another officer that the marks on her neck were from when “she fell down to the left side of the bed.”
Curran said that noise from the altercation led other hotel guests to investigate and contact the front desk, who then called police.
“We had people from other rooms that were witnesses to this,” Curran said. “That’s how this started, somebody in different room heard screaming and yelling, heard noises come out of the room, they thought something was going on and they opened up their door and little kids come running out of the hotel room that Frank was in and screaming Frank is … the witness came out basically saying, ‘Frank is killing our sister.’ They go over there and they knock on the door, they look inside and see this girl on the ground unconscious and they said that Frank is yelling and screaming at people and they call the front desk and the front desk, she sees the girl on the ground, the damage to the room and that’s how we ended up getting called.”
Hurt “refused a trip to the hospital and did not want to press charges.” Curran informed her that when there are signs of domestic violence, in the state of Ohio, officers can still arrest the offender even if the victim does not want to pursue charges.
Clark was taken to Erie County Jail and had a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday morning.
Michigan head coach Brady Hoke released a statement on Sunday night.
“We are aware of the report involving Frank Clark,” Hoke said. “I have not spoken to Frank but will at the appropriate time. We will respect the legal process and make any decisions once we have the facts.”
Clark has 42 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks this season. The Wolverines (5-5) host Maryland on Saturday in what would be Clark’s senior day game. No decisions have been made concerning his status with the program.
For more Michigan news, visit TheWolverine.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
