Quote:
Originally Posted by SirLK26
Just to be clear, this suit stemmed from a different incident than the one at the beach.
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Right but on that one at the beach:
- The tape opens with Galette engaged in a fight, what's not clear is whether he started the fight or whether he was defending himself
- The New Orleans Times Picayune reports that the man in the video is Junior Galette, but Galette's lawyer's stance has been that you can't prove it's him in the video, so I'm not sure it stands up in court without witnesses corroborating in court that it's him
- It's a fight, not domestic violence. The tape opens with Galette engaged in a fight. It's not Ray Rice in an elevator knocking out his wife.
- When the woman approaches him, she does so in an aggressive posture, thereby engaging in a fight. He strikes her with the belt. But that's not domestic violence, that's either assault & battery or it's self defense. I understand and believe in the you never hit a woman rule, but the legal system is not going to treat that as domestic violence.
- The fight happened in 2013, and there were no charges filed against Galette stemming from that incident, whether for domestic abuse or assault & battery. Which means there is no police report and no legal record containing witness statements. Which means it's a he said she said.
The NFL is investigating it. They're not going to conclude that this is a domestic violence issue, so he won't get the 6 games under the new rule. Furthermore, Greg Hardy's suspension was reduced to 4 games on the grounds that the domestic violence policy wasn't in place at the time of the act. The same would go for Galette. Regardless, it's a fight, not a domestic violence issue.
The NFL could decide it's a personal conduct policy issue, but that will depend on the outcome of the investigation and whether they can get witness statements. This is probably where it will end up, and he'll probably get 2-4 games, even less if those witness statements indicate Galette was on the defense in this fight.