Officials in Spokane, Washington, have released a video that shows the aftermath of an alleged fight between former Super Bowl champion Mark Rypien and his wife, Danielle.
Rypien was arrested after an altercation with his wife in Spokane, Washington, on June 30. The ex-Redskins quarterback told police that his wife began acting out while he was driving, hitting him in the head with a cell phone, pouring water on him, yelling at him, and even covering his eyes as he was driving. He told police he struck her to stop her from attacking him as he drove, TMZ reported.
Still, the 56-year-old player was arrested and charged with assaulting the woman.
A previous video obtained by TMZ shows the aftermath of the couple’s alleged altercation. The video shows Rypien’s wife on her hands and knees and seems to be in distress.
But now, police have released a second video showing Rypien’s arrest that also shows his wife sitting on the ground in possible distress.
In the video, Rypien is seen explaining what he claims his wife did while he was driving. “She was covering my face up, and I was scared we were going to get into a wreck,” he says on the video.
A police report noted that officers found that the interior of the car was wet lending veracity to Rypien’s claim that his wife poured water on him.
But his wife is also heard in the video expressing worries about what will happen if the police arrest her husband.
“He raises money for cancer, and it will hurt his reputation,” she tells police.
Officers ultimately arrested Rypien since he admitted that he hit his wife. Eventually, the ex-NFL player had the charges dropped after promising to get counseling.
Rypien released a statement to explain the incident:
In light of the dismissal of the misdemeanor assault charge against me, I want to express my appreciation to the citizen callers who reported this incident and to the officers involved for their efforts to protect Danielle on the day of this incident.
I also appreciate the professionalism of the officers, jail staff, court personnel, and the prosecutor’s office in having treated me with respect and civility through a very difficult process.
I want to be clear that I did not assault Danielle. We were having an argument, and she put her hands on my face, blocking my view of the road while I was driving. I shoved her aside out of actual fear that I might drive our car into a pedestrian, or otherwise cause a collision that could harm others or one of us. This was done to protect innocent bystanders and both her and I — I had no intent to harm or offend [Danielle] in any way.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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