NFL Reviews Additional Abuse Claims Against Josh Jacobs — SkimNews
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- NFL said Saturday it will review additional allegations of physical and verbal abuse by Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, revealed in a public-records release from the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department, as part of an investigation it says "has remained open."
- Hobart/Lawrence Police Department records show three women alleged abuse by Jacobs in incidents dating back to April 2021; they came forward only after learning of his arrest in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident in May.
- Josh Jacobs pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of battery and criminal damage to property, and police released reports plus body-camera and dash-camera footage from his arrest.
- David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III said the Brown County District Attorney's office had the "uncorroborated, old, and previously unreported allegations for months," that the investigation resulted in only two misdemeanor charges, and that Jacobs has expressed remorse and is honoring the plea agreement.
- The 129-page report records the woman telling police Jacobs "looked like a different person" during the alleged battery and that he attempted to strangle or suffocate her two times; police wrote that she described his demeanor as "enraged" and thought she was going to die.
- Two friends interviewed by police said the woman's account matched what she told them by phone and text in the hours after the incident, but neither was present and based their statements solely on those conversations.
- Garage surveillance video was withheld by police along with other records; Jacobs and the woman sued the department to block release, and the department said it "would have released the garage video, with the victim's entire body being pixelated" had it not been restricted.
Why it matters: For the NFL, the open investigation now extends to abuse allegations dating back to April 2021, even though Jacobs has already pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts. The record police released is largely testimonial: the garage video is blocked in litigation and the two friends corroborating the woman's account were not eyewitnesses.
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