Tyler Higbee makes the catch (NFL/YouTube - screenshot by Julie Miller).
Do you remember the time that Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee assaulted someone? Me neither! It seems as though Tyler Higbee assaulting someone mostly went under the radar. Higbee did a truly horrible thing, and it was quietly cleaned up by the NFL and the justice system. As far as I can tell, he was not suspended for any period of time for his crime. We hold people accountable around here, even when no one else does, so let’s talk about it.
The Assault Committed
When this story could not be more awful, it always finds a way to top itself. Tyler Higbee assaulted someone before he entered the NFL, had a serious knee injury that did not allow him to participate during his pro day, and yet he was still drafted in the 2016 draft in the fourth round, 110th overall. If the Los Angeles Rams had any qualms about drafting someone who has a history of assault, they didn’t mention it.
What did this assault entail? Brace yourselves, because it’s convoluted and evil. Higbee, his girlfriend, and friends, who, according to witnesses, included at least one other white male, were at a bar called Tidballs in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Another young man and student, Nawaf Alsaleh, was also at the establishment.
Hard, Hard Facts
There were some minor adjustments to the story, but we’ll talk about the about the hard facts first. Higbee and Alsaleh had some kind of disagreement, which resulted in Higbee punching Alsaleh. The victim fell and hit his head very hard, according to Higbee’s girlfriend. Alsaleh was found in the parking lot unconscious, with blood running from his mouth. He almost expelled blood and a thick white liquid from his mouth several times, according to the police.
There are no updates on Alsaleh’s overall health since the diagnosis of a brain hemorrhage and concussion that kept him unresponsive for at least 24 hours in the hospital in the intensive unit.
Nuance
Now let’s talk nuance. Tyler Higbee has a bad habit of denying something and then backtracking. For example, he first said that Alsaleh was ‘rubbing his head’ on him and his girlfriend. Higbee’s girlfriend did corroborate that the victim was coming on to her. The tight end also claims that Alsaleh was ‘calling his friends’ to come and fight him, despite the fact that the victim was speaking in a foreign language that Higbee didn’t understand.
However, later, he said he didn’t try to be aggressive or initiate physical contact; he was just too close to Higbee and his lady. He did double down on the claim that Alsaleh was calling friends because he ‘just knew.’ Witnesses confirm that there was some kind of tense conversation and that the victim never touched Higbee. One witness recalls two white men arguing with Alsaleh, who was on the phone.
The same witness says she says one of the white males was yelling things like “white power,” “f*ck ISIS,” and “This isn’t your country.” Higbee said he never said anything racist, but then backtracked. Tyler Higbee confessed to saying, ‘Watch out, Haji,” after punching the victim. Even if he hadn’t said any of the aforementioned quotes heard by witnesses, he did make at least one racist statement as well.
The Run
Once the police arrived, they had Higbee identified as a suspect. At this time, Higbee and two other people (likely his girlfriend and his white male friend) were running from the scene. They abandoned a man knocked out on the ground with blood flowing from his mouth.
Law enforcement spotted them and ran after them, telling them they were the police and to stop. The three individuals definitely didn’t stop, continuing to travel on foot. Eventually, Higbee tried to hide himself in a small tree line bordering a parking lot. It didn’t work, obviously. Police noticed he was unsteady on his feet, slurring, and smelled of alcohol.
Tyler Higbee denied he was even at Tidballs. He claimed he was at the bar he had previously been at earlier in the evening and hadn’t been in a fight that evening. That was ironic, considering Higbee’s girlfriend said he almost fought someone there too. The police noted a cut on the TE’s right hand that appeared to be fresh, and at that point, Higbee was detained.
Tyler Higbee Backtracks Again
The audacity. Higbee’s lawyer made a statement that came with some pretty hefty allegations. He started out with a banger, saying there was no racial motivation for the attack. Then the lawyer says that Higbee was justified in using force as a form of protection because Alsaleh pushed him and shouted Arabic. They also suggested that the police were wrong, and Tyler Higbee did not try to run from the cops.
Besides rewriting the narrative, they also slung mud all over Nawaf Alsaleh’s name. They pointed out that he had been arrested twice for DUIs in 2014. Tyler Higbee didn’t have any prior charges, according to his lawyer. It’s unclear how any of this matters at all. The (irrelevant) victim-blaming is staggering.
The ‘Consequences’
Unsurprisingly, there were basically none. In America, I know certain privileged men rarely get the same consequences for their actions, and so the fact that Tyler Higbee basically got Scott free doesn’t shock me. This entire incident basically skated under the media, which is wild. When you search Higbee’s crime, his teammate Mike Thomas being suspended is always heavily highlighted instead, and all he did was test positive for PEDs.
As we discussed, he was still drafted in the fourth round despite having a bad knee, leaving someone gargling blood in a parking lot unconscious, running from the police, and yelling at least one racist statement. He also ran from the cops without getting so much as tazed.
Despite pleading guilty in 2017 to “assault under extreme emotional disturbance,” he was not suspended from any games because it happened before he was in the NFL, and the team appeared to ignore their rookie’s indiscretions. Legally, Higbee got a slap on the wrist.
Higbee was in a diversion program for five years. He couldn’t drink alcohol or use drugs, and he couldn’t possess a firearm. Tyler Higbee also had to do 250 hours of community service. If he had violated his plea (he didn’t), he would have gotten two years in the slam-slam. Oh, and he also paid Nawaf Alsaleh an undisclosed amount.
Final Thoughts
Can the NFL pretend to care? Can the justice system actually hold people accountable? Apparently not. I don’t ever want to hear about a student getting a DUI and having potential “off-field” issues ever again. The Rams welcomed a man who assaulted someone with welcome arms into their locker room.
And we wonder why there are so few Asian players and coaches in this league. Who wants to share a locker room with someone who feels so comfortable shouting racial epithets in public and is not held accountable? If you’re Asian (including the Middle East), you might be held back from coaching opportunities, mocked by coaching staff while you play, and play with Tyler Higbee. It’s not a welcoming environment.
Read more articles where I hold people’s feet to the fire when they know better and deserve it here.
