Jeurys Familia, the closer for the New York Mets, has been arrested on charges of domestic violence, according to a report published by The Bergen Record. While the The Record had to connect the dots to find out that it was Familia, the Mets have already released a statement confirming that it is indeed their pitcher who was arrested for domestic violence.
Mets closer Jeurys Familia arrested for domestic violence
Familia recently starred in an anti-domestic violence campaign for MLB.
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
— SportsNet New York (@SNYtv) November 1, 2016
Familia was charged with “simple assault” after police responded to “a dispute” after 2 a.m. ET on Monday morning. According to The Record, officers found probable cause “to believe that domestic violence had occurred.” The identity of the victim has not been released, but they reportedly suffered a scratch on their chest and a bruised cheek.
Just one month ago, Familia had been part of an anti-domestic violence campaign with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence featuring athletes from a number of sports. In it, Familia says that he is “not a fan of domestic violence.”
Jeurys Familia was in an ad for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence earlier this month. Reportedly arrested last night for DV. pic.twitter.com/eP79sef9UU
— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) November 1, 2016
It’s difficult to feel as if the Mets will handle Familia’s arrest in an appropriate fashion, given that they went out of their way to acquire Jose Reyes last summer. Arrested in late 2015 for domestic violence and suspended by MLB under their new policy, Reyes was available to the Mets once the Rockies cut him loose, and they were all too happy to benefit from his league-minimum price tag.
We won’t know anything about a possible suspension here until after the courts are done with Familia. MLB did suspend Aroldis Chapman for 30 games to start 2016, though, and Chapman wasn’t arrested: that was based entirely on MLB’s own investigation and time with the evidence. So, MLB doesn’t necessarily need Familia to be found guilty in order to punish him for domestic violence — in fact, Reyes was arrested but the charges were dropped when his wife, his victim, would not cooperate with the prosecution.
Given this power MLB has to suspend players for domestic violence, they will wait to employ it until the courts have had their say with Familia.
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