UPDATED: 6:38 p.m.

Syracuse University football player Delone Carter was charged with misdemeanor assault in connection with a physical altercation he had with an SU student on Feb. 27, said Deputy Chief Joe Cecile of the Syracuse Police Department.

The charge was levied Wednesday after Carter and teammate Ryan Gillum were questioned by detectives regarding the matter, Cecile said. Gillum was not charged in the incident.

The altercation happened on the 300 block of Waverly Avenue at roughly 1 a.m., Cecile said. A vehicle containing Carter, Gillum and other members of the football team was struck by a snowball, and the SU running back responded by confronting a group of students nearby in front of Kimmel Hall.

Cecile said he did not believe the students Carter confronted were the ones who threw the snowball at the vehicle.

‘A snowball was thrown at the vehicle, they came back to the scene, got out, there was a verbal confrontation between them and two other males — neither of which threw the snowball — and at some point Mr. Carter threw a punch at one of the other individuals,’ Cecile said.

Carter, Syracuse’s leading rusher and slated starter, struck SU student William Hotaling, Cecile said. Hotaling, a junior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, fell to the ground and hit his head, Cecile said. He was later treated for facial injuries.

Hotaling declined to comment on the incident. ‘At this time I can’t really make any comments,’ he said, ‘but as the facts come to light they’ll speak for themselves on the events of that night.’

Cecile did not confirm the driver of the vehicle Carter was in, nor did he confirm when Carter is slated to appear in court. Calls to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office were not returned.

Michael Vavonese, Gillum’s lawyer, said he is upset with the way police handled the investigation and questioning of his client. Vavonese said he told police he did not want them questioning his client as he prefers police work with his client through him.

Vavonese would not elaborate on his concern on how police handled the case. But he stressed Gillum was not charged with or a suspect in the assault.
 
‘My client has never been charged with anything and has done nothing wrong,’ Vavonese said.

George Raus, Carter’s lawyer, said he believes Carter and Gillum’s civil rights were violated by the way police handled the matter.
 
He said it is his understanding that Syracuse police detectives approached Carter and Gillum in the middle of Wednesday’s football practice and handcuffed them in front of their teammates without arresting them.
 
‘They carted them off to jail knowing they had attorneys and didn’t contact the attorneys,’ Raus said. ‘It’s an obstruction of civil rights, and whoever that detective is should be fired.’
 
Raus said he believes the approach was used as a form of intimidation and that he would not be surprised if it was used to get Gillum to implicate Carter in the assault.
 
Raus was not contacted by police to be told they had his client until 10 p.m., approximately seven hours after Carter and Gillum were taken in, at which point Raus expressed his anger and was hung up on, he said. Carter and Gillum would not have needed to explicitly request their lawyers to the police for the lawyers to be contacted, Raus said, as the police already knew they were being represented and were told not to question them without a lawyer.
 
Raus plans to pursue repercussions for the police, but has not yet decided an appropriate place or form, he said.
 
Raus could not provide any more information as he said he has not met with his client since the incident and has not reviewed police reports. He said he believes Carter’s court date is in May, but did not know the exact date.

Check back at dailyorange.com for more updates.

rhkheel@syr.edu
ctorr@syr.edu

Published on April 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm