Seahawks’ Jarran Reed speaks about NFL decision to suspend him, Pete Carroll supports him
On the first day of Seahawks practice since getting suspended by the NFL for an alleged domestic assault, Jarran Reed fully participated in defensive-line drills.
Terms of his six-game suspension the league handed down on Monday allow the defensive tackle and Seattle’s leading returning interior pass rusher to practice with the team during the preseason.
After the first practice of training camp on Thursday, coach Pete Carroll indicated Reed’s incident and suspension will not adversely affect his future with the Seahawks.
Reed, who is coming off a breakout season in 2018 with 10 1/2 sacks, is entering the final year of his rookie contract as Seattle’s second-round draft choice in 2016.
“I feel like he’s done a tremendous job of dealing with the situation, letting us know. We’ve known of this for a great deal of time now and we’ve watched his maturity and his way of handling things,” Carroll said.
“I have no hesitation in supporting him going down the road.”
Carroll said the 27 months between the alleged incident, the City of Bellevue prosecutor declining to press charges on Reed in December 2017 and the NFL suspending him Monday left the Seahawks not knowing what was going on with the league’s investigation.
“It’s been a long time in the works,” Carroll said. “We respect what the league has done, the decisions that they make.
“Jarran’s been working at this for some time now. I appreciate the growth and the maturity and the transparency that he’s brought forth in showing us that he does understand it is a very serious issue. ... You can just feel that he’s learned from this...
“It just took such a long time we didn’t know what was going on. I mean, we could have heard much sooner than this.
“So, we didn’t know. We weren’t sure.”
Carroll said the Seahawks did not get an explanation for the league about the suspension.
Reed said he didn’t, either. He said he talked to NFL investigators.
“Of course, I disagree with the decision, based on the facts,” he said.
“Just based on the facts, I disagree with it.”
Reed says his version of events that led to his suspension differ from that detailed in a report on the alleged incident from the Bellevue Police Department. But he refused to elaborate.
Asked what specific facts about the incident he disagrees with, Reed said: “I’d just rather not get into it. Just based on the facts, we just disagree with it.”
A Bellevue police report on the alleged incident at his home in that Seattle suburb at 3:06 a.m. on April 27, 2017, detailed Reed, 26, grabbing a 21-year-old woman, that according to the report Reed had been dating for a month. The report said he grabbed her feet and ankles and dragged her from a bed down a flight of stairs to the floor below. The 140-pound woman’s head hit the floor multiple times, the police report stated. That was after the 300-pound Reed had broken a locked door off its hinges when the woman had gone behind it to get away from him.
Bellevue police referred his case to the city’s prosecutor. The prosecutor’s office declined to press the charges of fourth-degree assault, citing a lack of evidence.
Fourth-degree assault in Washington is a gross misdemeanor. It is punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine, with no mandatory minimum unless there is a special designation, such as domestic violence.
The report includes photographs taken by the officer with a police-issued mobile phone of the marks on the woman. According to the report, the woman declined any medical attention. Her mother in her statement said her daughter was seen by her primary care physician within days of her already-scheduled return flight to Atlanta later that morning of the incident.
The police report also includes photos taken by the arriving officer of a wooden door split open near the knob.
“(The woman) said all the damage occurred when Reed broke open the door while chasing her. (Her) cellphone screen was cracked and she said it happened when she dropped her phone while Reed dragged her to the staircase,” the report states.
The police report does not describe an arrest of Reed. It states he was gone from the residence by the time officers arrived. It adds: “Area checks for Reed and his (vehicle) by other officers produced negative results.”
The reporting officer called Reed’s cell phone with a number that a redacted name provided.
Whether Reed should have been arrested for a domestic violence call is a matter of probable cause to be determined by the police officer(s) at the scene, according to Washington state law. Washington is one of 23 states with mandatory arrest provisions in cases of alleged or suspected domestic assault, according to a compilation by the National Institute of Justice.
The league’s investigation was independent of the police’s. It led to Reed’s suspension.
The NFL’s investigation was wholly dependent on witnesses to the incident cooperating; the league has no legal power to subpoena or otherwise compel anyone to talk about anything.
Reed says the league did not explain its decision for the suspension.
“I’ve grown over the years, the years that I’ve had to learn, to grow, to mature, as a leader, as a person who has good character, and, you know, for sure is going to play hard and do everything I can for my teammates,” he said. “The only thing I can do is move forward. I respect the NFL’s decision. I’m ready to move forward and continue to do better.”
Asked if he understood why the NFL suspended him this week, 27 months after the alleged incident, Reed said: “I don’t understand why.
“But it’s the decision that they made. I just have to move forward.”
Reed said he has a message for his teammates: “Just to learn from my mistakes, man. To not ever put yourself in a position to have something happen like that.
“Everybody grows and learns, you know,” Reed said with a shrug. “As long as I can take those young guys under my wing and help them do what’s right, that’s my calling right now.”
Reed said he had “in the back of his mind” the last two years the possibility the league’s investigation of him could result in a suspension.
“But I was hoping it would come to an agreement it wouldn’t be like that,” he said. “But, they made a decision. All I can do is respect it.”
Two days after Reed got suspended, the Seahawks signed 31-year-old defensive tackle Earl Mitchell to help replace Reed. Mitchell was on the field Thursday for the start of training camp.
“Nice football player. We’ve always respected his work,” Carroll said of Mitchell, a 10th-year veteran who played the last two seasons for San Francisco. “The maturity and all that he brings, he brings a certain level of experience that will fill that void that J-Reed has been for us. He has been a very strong leader for us. We are hoping Earl gives us that feel, as well.
“Al Woods (the 10th-year veteran defensive tackle Seattle signed this offseason), as well. Both of those guys have been around. We feel we can make up the space and those guys will do a fine job.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2019 at 3:33 PM.
