Las Vegas police expect to make more arrests in the battery case involving NFL star running back Alvin Kamara, a Clark County sheriff’s deputy said Wednesday, as he explained how Kamara was able to play in Sunday’s Pro Bowl despite being suspected of a felony.
Deputy Sheriff John McGrath said video evidence clearly showed Saturday morning’s attack on Darnell Greene by Kamara and three other men near the elevators inside The Cromwell on the Las Vegas Strip.
“There are multiple people involved,” McGrath said, adding that Kamara “is the primary aggressor.”
Kamara was arrested shortly after the Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday on suspicion of aggravated assault causing significant bodily harm. Police say Greene was badly beaten at least 30 hours earlier by Kamara as his girlfriend, assistant and two friends left Drai’s nightclub inside the Cromwell, according to an arrest report in the case.
McGrath said Wednesday that Kamara was able to play in the Pro Bowl despite the police investigation for several reasons. First, McGrath said, it took detectives many hours to discern beyond doubt that Kamara was the person pictured on CCTV beating the man.
“It took a while for the video to come through to identify him and have enough probable cause to say ‘it’s Alvin Kamara,'” McGrath said. “We found a video that had a very clear image of a tattoo he had. Then we knew it was enough to say it was him. It took much of Saturday night to Sunday morning .
Police then struggled to locate Kamara.
“The other issue was that he wasn’t staying at the NFL-provided hotel,” McGrath said. “They were all at the Westin. So we tried to reach him at the Westin, but he never checked into his room. He and his friends got an Airbnb, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We just couldn’t find it. This is the other part that took a bit of time to figure out.
McGrath said detectives knew Kamara was scheduled to play in the Pro Bowl, so they informed NFL security that Kamara was a suspect in the assault. By the time detectives were ready to question Kamara “he was already in the field,” McGrath said, and police made the decision not to remove him.
“The other part is obviously there are multiple people involved,” McGrath said. “He’s the main aggressor, but these other people, that we’re trying to identify who are with him, we needed his cooperation for that.”
The commissioner responds
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the issue during his Super Bowl press conference on Wednesday at SoFi Stadium.
“Our security team was contacted by Las Vegas police just before the game saying they would like to meet with Alvin after the game,” Goodell said. “Our security team did what they were asked to do.”
New Orleans Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday that “the Saints weren’t notified until after the game.”
When asked if he expected any more arrests in the case, McGrath answered in one word: “yes”.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said “the NFL was given advance notice that one of its players was under investigation.”
“In my opinion, they (the police) wanted to make sure they had enough information in their possession before making an arrest,” Wolfson said.
Conflict at Cromwell’s lifts
Kamara’s arrest report says Greene told police he was leaving the club and headed for the lifts at the Cromwell. He said he started talking with someone from a group he met.
As the elevator doors opened, the large group of people heading in entered with Greene. Police said Kamara arrested him.
“Greene pushed Kamara’s hand to his chest,” police said in the report. “Greene stated that he was pushed hard which caused him to trip. After Greene was pushed he states that he was punched and kicked by several people and lost (sic) consciousness.
Greene suffered an orbital fracture in his right eye that may require surgery, according to the report. Attempts to reach him for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Police said in the arrest report that when they watched the video of the beating, “the story is exactly like how Greene describes the attack”, noting that the video showed four people assaulting Greene. The video, according to police, shows Greene being punched by a man who is not Kamara before Kamara repeatedly punches Greene.
Multiple punches
Greene, police said, fell back into the hallway and “Kamara keeps hitting him.”
After Greene lost consciousness, Kamara continued to punch him three more times, police said.
After the Pro Bowl, Kamara told police he was with his girlfriend, “Tea,” his assistant, “Reagan,” and a few of his friends. Kamara said Greene was unruly and threatened to “kick your ass too”.
“Kamara said he saw a fight break out next to him when he saw Greene getting hit,” police said.
Kamara told detectives he threw a few punches, thinking Greene was running away.
“Kamara does not recall if he hit Greene while he was on the ground,” police said.
Police said the video evidence did not match Kamara’s account. A status check on whether Clark County prosecutors will pursue the charges is scheduled for March 8 in court in Las Vegas.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at [email protected]. To follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
Comments are closed.