Maurice Neal of the Utah football team was charged with assault for allegedly attacking two men outside Lumpy’s Sports Bar on Sunday.
The Salt Lake City Police Department filed the charges Wednesday against Neal, a sophomore in sociology and a backup middle linebacker for the football team. He faces three class A misdemeanors, including two counts of simple assault and one count of failing to stop at the command of a law officer.
According to the charging papers, SLCPD officers saw Neal punch a man named Martin Chacon, who collapsed after the blow. Then Neal and several other men outside the downtown bar attacked a second man, Juan Hernandez. He was also knocked to the ground, and Neal kicked him in the head and torso until he was unconscious, the charges state.
Although officers shouted at him to stop, Neal ran. He was caught half a block later.
Officers booked him in Salt Lake County Jail with a $2,500 bail. Each of his charges, class A misdemeanors, could be punished by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
A court date has not been set.
Neal has not been suspended from the team, for which he played nine games in the 2008 season. Head coach Kyle Whittingham said in a statement that “once the legal system runs its course, we will determine what, if any, disciplinary action is appropriate.”
Neal’s charges are nothing new to the Ute football team. The 3rd District Court issued an arrest warrant last February for Marquis Wilson, a dismissed player accused of beating a man in a strip club. In October, Lisi Leota was suspended from the team because of claims that he assaulted students at a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity party.
Maurice Neal