Judge upholds six-game suspension against Ezekiel Elliott stemming from domestic abuse allegations
Attorneys for Ezekiel Elliott say the Dallas running back’s six-game suspension over a domestic violence case has been upheld, but he will play the opener because of the timing of the arbitrator’s decision.
Elliott attorney Jeffrey Kessler told the judge near the end of a more than two-hour hearing in federal court Tuesday night that Elliott’s suspension was sustained by arbitrator Harold Henderson.
At the start of the hearing, NFL attorney Daniel Nash said Elliott could play Sunday night against the New York Giants because Henderson’s ruling came too late in the day for it to be enforced this weekend.
Elliott, however, will be allowed to participate in the Dallas’ season opener because the decision came to late
Elliott’s attorneys said they were ‘extremely disappointed with Mr. Henderson’s inability to navigate through league politics, and follow the evidence.’
US District Judge Amos Mazzant said he would rule on Elliott’s request for a temporary restraining order by Friday.
The decision to suspend the 2016 NFL rushing leader came in early August despite prosecutors in Columbus, Ohio, deciding a year ago not to pursue the case involving Elliott’s girlfriend at the time in the same city where Elliott starred for Ohio State.
The league said there was ‘substantial and persuasive evidence’ that Elliott had physical confrontations last summer with his then-girlfriend, Tiffany Thompson.
Elliott will be eligible to return to the active roster on Oct. 23.
According to testimony heard during Elliott’s appeal hearing last week, the star said that he believed his ex-girlfriend had an affair with his former teammate Lucky Whitehead.
Former Cowboy’s wide receiver Lucky Whitehead looks on from the field before a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers
The decision to suspend the 2016 NFL rushing leader came in early August despite prosecutors in Columbus, Ohio, deciding a year ago not to pursue the case
‘He and I started talking over social media,’ Thompson said, according to the NFL players’ union’s investigative report. ‘We weren’t really dating. Ezekiel found out and I blocked Lucky from my phone.’
An investigator on the case said Thompson told her that Elliott had become mad that she was dating ‘some guy’ and confirmed that the person was Whitehead.
When Elliott was asked about the Whitehead situation, he said he was ‘p***ed off’ about it and that Thompson had taunted him with text messages insinuating that she had sex with his former teammate.
Elliott has claimed that Thompson continued harassing him after ending their relationship.
The league revised its personal conduct policy in 2014 following sharp criticism of a case involving former Baltimore running back Ray Rice.
The policy gave Commissioner Roger Goodell authority to suspend players for at least six games in domestic cases, with or without a conviction.
The Ohio case was the first in a series of off-field incidents involving Elliott in his first year after the Cowboys made him the fourth overall pick in the 2016 draft.
He finished with 1,631 yards rushing in helping the Cowboys to the best record in the NFC at 13-3 before a divisional playoff loss to Green Bay.
The NFL changed its rules and gave Commissioner Roger Goodell wide ranging authority to hand out suspensions in 2014