There’s a lot of confusion surrounding the Zach Smith-Urban Meyer scandal that has engulfed Ohio State football at the moment. What did Meyer know, and when did he know it? Why did Meyer repeat multiple untruths at Big Ten media days if he truly had nothing to hide? What did Gene Smith say to Meyer after the allegations against Smith surfaced in 2015?
But the core of the case is Courtney Smith‘s accusations against her former husband in October of 2015, brought to light by Brett McMurphy’s explosive report last Wednesday.
“He took me and shoved me up against the wall, with his hands around my neck,” Courtney said of Zach, according to McMurphy. “Something he did very often. My (then 3-year old) daughter was clinging to my leg. It obviously registered with him what he was doing, so he took my (then 5-year old) son and left. So I called the police.”
However, according to Powell (Ohio) Chief of Police Gary Vest, Smith was never arrested for that incident.
“He was never arrested, never handcuffed, never brought in and never charged in a court of law here in 2015,” Vest told Eleven Warriors. “There were never any charges filed in the court process. So the word ‘arrest’ was simply checked on a box that shouldn’t have been checked.”
Vest did not rule out that McMurphy viewed a Powell PD report indicating Smith had been arrested in October 2015. However, Vest said, the arrest box would have been checked out of human error.
Smith was fired on July 23, and Meyer placed on administrative leave on Aug. 1. Meyer released a statement on Friday stating he followed proper university procedures, in reporting the Smith allegations up the Ohio State food chain. Further texts released Friday appeared to show Courtney Smith accusing Zach Smith of choking her on two separate occasions, claims which he did not deny in the text exchange.
Ohio State on Monday announced it expected to wrap up its ongoing investigation within a two-week window.