“Our investigation has led us to believe that both simple battery and second degree battery will be the appropriate charge when the case is concluded,” police spokesman Don Stone said in a prepared statement.
According to Louisiana law, the maximum sentence for a second degree battery charge is five years in prison or a $2,000 fine. The maximum sentence for a simple battery charge is a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.
None of the four players implicated by police — starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson, wide receiver Jarvis Landry, offensive tackle Chris Davenport and linebacker Josh Johns — have been arrested or charged yet.
Stone said the players and their attorney, Nathan Fisher, will meet with Baton Rouge Police Tuesday at an undisclosed time and location to make sure “the integrity of the investigation is not hampered or disturbed by the inordinate amount of media attention given this incident.”
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Fisher was unavailable for comment Monday night to confirm if he and the players would be present.
Fisher had police postpone the original meeting scheduled for Monday morning between police and the players. The four have been implicated by police interviews with witnesses and with four male, non-athletes who were injured in the fight and treated and released for minor injuries at a local hospital early Friday, Stone said. The fight occurred in the parking lot of Shady’s bar near the LSU campus between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Friday.
Multiple witnesses have told police that one of the players kicked one of the four victims in the head while he was on the ground, Stone said. Stone did not rule out that one, some or all of the Shady’s four could be arrested at the meeting or in the coming days on battery-related charges.
“Mr. Fisher has asked for a 24-hour postponement so that he can meet with the players and get a better understanding of the incident,” Stone said in a widely circulated news release Sunday. “The police have agreed to this postponement and will speak with the players’ attorney (Monday) to arrange the interviews.”
Fisher would not say if spoke with police on Monday. He was then told what Stone said about a scheduled meeting today.
“Well, Mr. Stone has made other incorrect statements,” Fisher said and ended the phone interview because he was interviewing a parent of one of the four suspected players. When told of Fisher’s statements, Stone had no comment and referred questions to a statement he released Monday afternoon.
“The Baton Rouge Police Department has no new information to release in reference to the ongoing investigation involving the LSU football players,” Stone said in the release. “This includes the question, ‘What time are the players coming in tomorrow?'”
Meanwhile, Michael Bienvenu, the attorney for the four injured non-athletes, criticized the postponement of the original questioning session between police and the Shady’s four.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the LSU players that the police would like to interview have chosen not to cooperate at this time,” Bienvenu said in a prepared statement. “It will only serve to delay getting to the truth regarding this matter.”
All four players practiced Monday, LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette said, and Jefferson practiced with the first team as he normally would have with Jarrett Lee working with the second team.
Lee was asked if he was preparing himself mentally to start should Jefferson be suspended.
“Well, when you come into this level, you’re supposed to prepare to be the starter each and every week,” Lee said. “So it’s an unfortunate situation that happened, but all of us quarterbacks prepare like we’re the starter. Whatever happens, we’re just going to keep working harder and looking forward to this game. This has been my best camp. I’ve been in the system for five years now. I know it like the back of my hand.”
Lee said the quarterback rotation at practice was the same.
“Honestly, nothing really changed,” he said. “I still got the reps with the twos. Zach (Mettenberger) still got some of the twos. Nothing really changed. Jordan practiced with the ones, and we had a really good practice.”
Lee and other players not implicated in the fight spoke for the first time to reporters about the fight, but they were under orders by LSU coach Les Miles and the athletic department to only answer general questions about the incident.
“It’s definitely a distraction,” sophomore cornerback Tyrann Mathieu said. “But we’ve got to put that aside. We have a big game coming up in less than 12 days, so that’s really our focus right now.”
No. 4 LSU opens the season against No. 3 Oregon on Sept. 3 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on national ABC television.
“We were kind of down when we first heard about it,” senior safety Brandon Taylor said, “but it’s bringing us together a whole lot because we’ve learned to trust each other more. It’s making us more disciplined on and off the field. It was a distraction to the team, but we’re going to overcome it.”
Taylor and Mathieu are members of the leadership unity council that Miles said wants a “redirection” in light of the bar fight.
“We’re basically the boss of the team, and we’ve got to be the leaders of the team and keep everybody in line,” Taylor said. “We suggested some of the discipline for this (the fight). The team is going to do community service – the whole team because it was a team thing. Everybody was part of it, even though a lot of the guys weren’t there.”
Miles has promised more disciplinary moves after he learns as much as he can about the incident.
