Just read the letter to EE.
Again, I haven't made a judgment on this. But, I do believe the NFL should conduct themselves in a similar spirit that a man is innocent until proven guilty.
1. There is nothing in the letter that states that there were several witnesses that saw her make up the story on July 21st of him dragging her out of the car and then claiming that she would ruin his career.
2. There is nothing in the letter of the affidavits sworn to the Columbus Ohio DA's office of Thompson's friend, Ayrin Mason, stating that she saw and helped break up a fight that Thompson was in with another female. There was also an affidavit from Kenny Alvardo, the head of security at the club, that saw the fight at the club and recognized Thompson. These incidents all occurred on July 21st according to Mason and Alvardo.
3. There is nothing in the letter of the affidavit from Thompson's friend, Ayrin Mason, of the text messages with Thompson where Thompson asks Mason to lie to police for her.
According to the letter, the NFL has:
1. Photos by Thompson that she texted to her mother with the text 'Abusive' on July 19th.
2. Photos by Thompson taken on July 22nd that she claims were from altercations on July 21st (the same date that Thompson is accused of the 'ruin your career' comment and the fight at the bar).
For me the only thing that matters is whether or not EE assaulted her or not. I don't really care that much about double standards, legal language, past screw-ups from the NFL, the NFL's perception of how to respect a woman, the St. Paddy's date incident, etc.
Either Ezekiel Elliott assaulted Tiffany Thompson or Tiffany Thompson lied about an assault.
With that, I am looking for evidence and I'm looking for credibility.
What I find fishy is that Thompson took a photo of her being abused by EE, texted it to her mother on July 19th. Then she continued to stay with EE for 3 more days until July 21st. It wasn't until the 22nd that she decided to go to the police with the accusation. While it's one thing for a victim of abuse to stay with her abuser...it's another for her mother to receive this information and do nothing about it for 3 days. Sorry, my mother and virtually every mother I know would have handled that situation entirely different.
From there, Thompson doesn't go to the police until after July 21st. This coincides with the incident where numerous witnesses said that Thompson was furious that another woman had drove EE to his apartment and went up to the window and started screaming at the female driver. And then she told EE that she would ruin his career.
Could it possibly happen that Thompson was assaulted on the 19th and stayed with EE for 3 more days and then didn't decide to file charges until after she perceived that he was with another woman?
Sure.
But, it loses credibility when her own friend swears in an affidavit to the DA and shows text messages where Thompson asks her to lie to the police.
And it also gives Thompson's friend, Ayran Mason, more credibility when Kenny Alvardo also makes a sworn affidavit that he saw Thompson in a fight on the 21st.
Where the league has some credit at this particular time is that the DA's office believes that EE was violent with Thompson. THAT is a big part that needs to be cleared up because up until this point I would be led to believe that the DA's office did NOT believe EE was violent with Thompson. And if the DA's office believes Elliott was violent with Thompson, why did they not arrest him and why did they state that there were inconsistencies in the case?
Until we get that resolved, I can't really move on.
But, I do find is disconcerting that the NFL, in its letter to EE, never once mentioned the affidavits and the fight that Thompson was in with another female that 2 different people swore in affidavits to the DA's office to. EE is owed an explanation as to why those pieces to the story have been discounted by the league other than just saying there was not sufficient enough evidence..
I am also bothered by the DA's office about face on this case. They took sworn affidavits from numerous witness and even were able to get actual text messages from Mason showing that Thompson asked Mason to lie for her.
If so, why didn't the DA's office further pursue this matter? Thompson would be giving a false statement to police and trying to tamper with evidence. Last I knew those are against the law. I would assume that Mason would allow for the DA's office to check her phone to see if Thompson had made those text messages.
And why did the DA's office issue a statement with the sworn affidavits and the text messages and state that they have closed the case and now state that they generally believe Thompson?
So what has happened here is that the Columbus DA played a massive role in the league suspending EE. If he stated that he didn't believe Thompson then the league would have far less ground to stand on. If the media had any brains or guts, they would go to the Columbus DA's office, first, and hold its feet to the fire.
YR
