Kareem Hunt can be seen kicking a 19-year-old woman while she’s on the floor of a Cleveland hotel in February 2018. Hunt has played every game for the Kansas City Chiefs so far this season. The video, which was first obtained by TMZ, was uploaded on November 30. It shows Hunt and the woman arguing at around 3 a.m. inside of the Metropolitan Hotel. Hunt can be seen shoving the woman, but when she hits him back, he shoves his friend into her. After that, as the woman crouches on the floor, Hunt kicks her.
Several hours after the video was made public, the Chiefs announced Hunt had been released by the team.
“Earlier this year, we were made aware of an incident involving running back Kareem Hunt. At that time, the National Football League and law enforcement initiated investigations into the issue,” the team said in a statement. “As part of our internal discussions with Kareem, several members of our management team spoke directly to him. Kareem was not truthful in those discussions. The video released today confirms that fact. We are releasing Kareem immediately.”
Hunt issued a statement saying, “I deeply regret what I did. I hope to move on from this.”
The NFL announced Hunt has been placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, meaning he is not allowed to play in or attend games or practices if he is signed by another team until an investigation is completed. Hunt could be paid by a team while on the list, but would not count against the 53-man roster.
“The NFL’s investigation, which began immediately following the incident in February, will include a review of the new information that was made public today,” the league said. According to ESPN, neither the Chiefs nor the NFL had viewed the video prior to it being published by TMZ. The hotel and police did not turn over the video as part of the NFL’s probe into the incident.
The woman had earlier been named as Abigail Ottinger. The incident occurred at the downtown hotel on February 10, reported Cleveland.com, at the time. Abigail Ottinger, 19, told officers that Hunt “shoved and pushed” outside of what Cleveland.com calls Hunt’s “hotel apartment.” Although another woman who was with the party, says that Ottinger assaulted her. The website says that there were two police reports, one says Ottinger is a victim, another has her as the aggressor. No arrests have been made in the case. The website also said at the time that Ottinger was a Kent State University who says she was on a party bus with a friend, Hunt and his entourage. At the end of the night, Ottinger went back to Hunt’s hotel.
TMZ reported in February 2018 that Ottinger was asked to leave the hotel by another man in Hunt’s party. After refusing to leave, the gossip site says that Ottinger “began calling him and Hunt the N-word and specifically she stated, “F*** you n*****. You ain’t s***.” That report also says that Ottinger punched one of Hunt’s female friends who had been trying to cool down the altercation. The TMZ report includes Ottinger’s account which says that she was asked to leave the party because she didn’t want to hook-up with one of Hunt’s friends. Ottinger says she couldn’t afford to get home to Kent State so she sat outside the hotel. That’s when Hunt came outside and “shoved and pushed” her in an attempt to get her to leave.
In June 2018, TMZ reported that Hunt had been involved in a fight with a man at the Bay Lodging Resort in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. The report makes the even seem minor with the victim not even seeking medical attention nor wanting to press charges.
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