(Insert obligatory “Roll Tide” here)
Tuesday morning news broke that four Alabama football players -- running back Brent Calloway, linebacker Tyler Hayes, defensive lineman D.J. Pettway and defensive back Eddie Williams -- had been arrested in connection to a pair of on-campus robberies very early Monday morning. The latter three were all charged with two counts each of felony second-degree robbery, with two UA students the alleged victims in the separate incidents.
One of those students, Samuel Jurgens, spoke extensively Tuesday night to the Crimson White, the school’s student newspaper, offering up horrific details of the beating he allegedly took at the hands of Hayes and Williams. Check that: a friend of Jurgens offered up most of the pertinent details as Jurgens was knocked unconscious during the attack and his recollection of what happened in the immediate aftermath and after regaining consciousness remains hazy at best.
Chris Burks, the friend Jurgens called shortly after the robbery, described meeting Jurgens at the front door of his dorm.
“His left side of his face was gigantic,” Burks said. “The jacket he was wearing and his headphones were completely drenched in blood, the bottom half of his face was completely covered in blood; he was bleeding badly from his lip. He had clearly been badly beaten.”
Taken to a local hospital after calling police, Jurgens was ultimately diagnosed with a mild concussion and received stitches in his lip. Despite the injuries he says he’s “still recovering from” -- “They punched me, they kicked me in my back, in my ribs. I would definitely classify it as excessive” -- and the fact that "[i]t’s almost like they were doing it for fun,” Jurgens says it will have no impact on him as a Tide football fan.
“This was just a matter of chance. I’m still gonna love Alabama football. I just want to deal with this case, move on with my life,” Jurgens said. “I just want to get on with my education. I want to continue being happy here. I was happy here before, and I will continue being happy here.”
Hayes and Williams, who was arrested a day earlier for carrying a pistol without a permit, both admitted to police that they had attacked Jurgens. Williams also admitted to taking part in an attack on the second victim roughly an hour later. While not quoted directly in the student paper’s piece, that victim, Chris Paul, stated that he was feeling well and had returned to classes. Jurgens has returned to classes as well.
All four players were suspended indefinitely by the football program, although it seems more than likely that the three players charged with robbery are -- or at least should be -- well on their way to a dismissal. The fourth player, Callaway, did not take part in the robberies but was charged after using a credit/debit card stolen from one of the two victims.