A woman testified Thursday that New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers grabbed her by the neck, slammed her against the wall and pushed her down the stairs after another man called her cellphone several times while they were in bed.
She testified on the first day of Peppers’ trial on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Along with her testimony, prosecutors showed several videos of the incident, in which Peppers can be seen asking the naked woman repeatedly to leave his house in Braintree, Massachusetts. The woman said Peppers was filming her and taunting her as she tried to get her belongings and depart after the alleged assault.
The police report of the October incident supports the woman’s testimony. Police said she refused to go to a hospital and was treated at the home for her injuries.
“He grabbed me by the neck and slammed me against the wall,” the woman said, at times getting emotional. “My feet weren’t touching the wall, and he was holding me up against the wall.”
The attorney for Peppers, Marc Brofsky, challenged the woman’s account and the extent of her injuries during cross-examination — noting she waited to call the police until she left Peppers’ house and didn’t go to the hospital for treatment of injuries she sustained to her face and knee.
Brofsky asked the woman, “If your head was smashed open, you were strangled and you were thrown down a set of stairs and you had serious injuries, wouldn’t you go to the hospital?”
He also brought up a $9.5 million lawsuit the woman has filed against Peppers, noting she was “looking for money.”
But the woman disputed that it was about money, saying, “You can’t put a number on trauma.” She said she was also looking for an apology and for Peppers to get counseling for anger management.
In the early morning after the alleged assault, Peppers answered the door shirtless, nodding his head and telling police, “I know what is going on,” according to court documents. He was arrested without incident. Police said they found a clear plastic bag at the home containing a white powder that later tested positive for cocaine.
On Thursday, Peppers admitted to cocaine possession ahead of his domestic violence trial. That was continued without finding, according to The Boston Globe, which means that if he stays out of trouble over the next four months, the charge will be dropped.
Peppers took the stand late Thursday for the defense. He started by testifying about his relationship with the woman before court ended for the day. He is expected to resume his testimony Friday.
Peppers missed seven games after being placed on the commissioner exempt list Oct. 9 following the incident.
This prevented him from practicing or playing with the Patriots but allowed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to place him on paid leave while reviewing his case. He was removed from the list Nov. 25 but appeared in only two of the Patriots’ final five games this season because of foot and hamstring injuries. He was placed on injured reserve before the team’s season finale against the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 5.
The Patriots signed Peppers, a safety in his third season with the team, to an extension over the summer. Peppers was originally drafted by Cleveland in 2017 and spent two seasons with the Cleveland Browns before playing for the New York Giants for three seasons.
The league said previously that its review of Peppers’ criminal case is ongoing and was not affected by the change in his roster status that allowed him to return to play. His current contract with the Patriots runs through 2027.
