What we know about Kareem Hunt’s alleged assault of a woman in February

Video of the alleged incident has been released.

In February, police were called to a Cleveland hotel to respond to an an incident involving Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt and a woman. TMZ has acquired video of the alleged incident.

In the video a man, who is allegedly Hunt, is seen shoving a man and a woman and then later kicking the woman while she was on the ground.

No arrests or charges were made at the time, but there was a complaint filed against Hunt. The Kansas City Star obtained police reports of the incident that listed Hunt as the suspect in the case and assault as the charge.

Will Hunt be suspended?

According to the NFL’s personal conduct policy, the standard punishment for assault is a six-game suspension without pay:

Violations involving assault, battery, domestic violence or sexual assault will result in a baseline six-game suspension for first offenses.

The new policy came in response to the 2014 assault case involving former Ravens running back Ray Rice. It’s likely that Hunt will face some sort of punishment. The Chiefs have yet to release a statement about Hunt or the video, but one will be coming soon.

The Chiefs have reportedly sent Hunt home.

Why wasn’t Hunt suspended before this?

It’s unclear why Hunt wasn’t suspended before this — just because charges weren’t filed doesn’t mean players can’t be punished. As the personal conduct policy states:

It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime. We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful.

The league launches its own investigations if there’s a possibility a player violated the personal conduct policy. TMZ reported in June that the NFL had begun to investigate Hunt’s incident.

Here’s what Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt said when he addressed the incident in August:

“The team’s made up of a bunch of young men,” Clark Hunt said via the Kansas City Star. “They’re not always going to make the best decisions, but we have a strong support system, both with the coaching staff and also with our player development department that works with young guys and talks to them about the situations that they want to be in.

“Kareem is a young man, second year in the league, obviously had a very big year on the field last year. I’m sure he learned some lessons this offseason and hopefully won’t be in those kind of situations in the future.”

Clark Hunt also said he wasn’t expecting a suspension for Kareem Hunt:

The NFL has been inconsistent with its punishment regarding these matters, even after altering its personal conduct policy following the Ray Rice incident back in 2014. Former Giants kicker Josh Brown initially received a one-game suspension after a domestic violence investigation. Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was not charged, but the league investigated domestic violence allegations against him and then suspended him for six games. Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston was suspended for three games when he was accused of groping an Uber driver.

In February, then-49ers linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested on domestic violence and weapon charges. He was later suspended for drug and gun charges after his accuser recanted the domestic violence claims. Now with Washington, Foster is currently on the commissioner’s exempt list while he deals with his latest arrest for domestic violence.

The NFL doesn’t need legal charges to decide whether to suspend a player. It shouldn’t need video proof either. In this case, that could be what forces its hand.

We’ll continue to update as we get more information.