Mom, girlfriend of Rutgers star Carroo charged with assault

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) Cellphone videos and a witness will help exonerate suspended Rutgers University football star Leonte Carroo of a domestic violence charge, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Attorney William Fetky appeared with Carroo at a court hearing where a woman Carroo is accused of attacking Sept. 12 was seeking a permanent restraining order against him.

''All of the evidence will show that she is not the victim. She is the aggressor,'' Fetky said.

Carroo, 21, has pleaded not guilty to an assault charge related to domestic violence. Authorities alleged he slammed the woman he once dated onto concrete after Rutgers lost to Washington State.

The woman received injuries on her hip, hands, elbow and head.

Fetky said a friend of Carroo's will testify that he, not Carroo, knocked the 20-year-old woman to the ground and put a hand on her outside the Rutgers athletic training facility in Piscataway.

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The lawyer said the videos show that Carroo's girlfriend, 20-year-old Maria Vega, was attacked by the woman and Carroo grabbed Vega to get her out of the fight.

Outside court, the woman said the attorney's statement was false and she didn't provoke the attack.

Vega; her father, Juan; and Carroo's mother, Lavern, were charged Tuesday with simple assault and disorderly conduct related to the fight.

Carroo, who is 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, was suspended indefinitely from the football team but remains a student at Rutgers. He is scheduled to appear in Piscataway Municipal Court on Oct. 1.

The arrest of the senior captain came after six current and three former Rutgers players were charged with a series of violent crimes.

The team's coach, Kyle Flood, also was suspended for three games and fined $50,000 for improperly contacting an instructor regarding a grade of one of the players.

The court hearing on the restraining order was adjourned until Oct. 6.

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