Wednesday, highly-touted JUCO transfer Davon Durant was suspended indefinitely by Arizona State after he was arrested on multiple charges following an alleged incident of domestic violence.
One day later, the alleged victim spoke to ESPN.com and stated in very plain terms that she had lied to police about being assaulted by the football player. According to yesterday’s reports, “Durant’s girlfriend told police that Durant hit her in the face once and grabbed her around the neck” during an argument while the two were in a black SUV.
From ESPN.com‘s report:ASU student Kelsi Langley, who wished to be identified, said on March 7, the day of the incident, she was upset with Durant after she found messages from other girls on his phone and said she purposefully made a scene outside her apartment. Police were called by “a witness who reported observing a male hit a female while each were seated in a black Chevrolet SUV,” according to the arrest report from the Tempe Police Department.
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“When I lied to the police, it was out of spite,” said Langely, who attended Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas, with Durant before transferring to ASU to remain near him. “I wasn’t thinking. It was a very vengeful and spiteful thing to do.”
It was Langely who bailed Durant out of jail. The website reports that the two haven’t spoken since March 8 because a no-contact mandate was a condition of Durant’s release.
Langeley went to police with her fabrication claims, but, the Tempe Police Department said in a statement, “because we have independent witnesses that witnessed the assault on her and the bruising and injuries to her face and neck, [Durant] was still arrested and charged.”
As it stands now, this recantation will have no impact on Durant’s status with the football program.
#ASU Graham said "nothing has changed since yesterday" regarding new info. concerning Davon Durant; will let "process play out"
— Craig Grialou (@CraigAZSports) March 17, 2015
Coming out of Butler County Community College, Durant was a four-star member of the Sun Devils’ 2015 recruiting class. Durant, a South Carolina native, had actually been a verbal commitment to South Carolina during part of his time at the Kansas JUCO, but flipped his commitment to ASU in October three months after verballing to USC.
(Photo credit: Rivals.com)