On Friday night, the Seahawks made former Michigan defensive end Frank Clark the 63rd pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and added another piece to their already-strong defense. But in light of all the controversy surrounding the pick, Clark might not end up playing a single down in Seattle.
Last November, Clark was arrested at a hotel in Sandusky, Ohio on domestic violence-related charges after he allegedly attacked his ex-girlfriend Diamond Hurt. He was kicked off Michigan's football team a short time later. And while he was eventually able to have the serious charges against him reduced to a singular persistent disorderly conduct charge, meaning he didn't have to serve any jail time, the Seahawks are currently being criticized for not doing their due diligence prior to picking Clark.
Specifically, a new Seattle Times report indicates that the team didn't speak with two key witnesses who were staying in a hotel room next to Clark and Hurt on the night that he allegedly assaulted her. Lis Babson and Kristie Colie told the Seattle Times that they heard loud banging and yelling coming from Clark and Hurt's room that night, and Babson claims that she even tried to intervene by knocking on the door. When she did, she says that her and Colie saw Hurt lying on the ground and noticed that she was "definitely beat up."
"She looked unconscious," Colie told the Seattle Times. "She looked like she was knocked out, and then she started to move slowly."
You can read the entire Seattle Times story here. The Seahawks have already come out and defended their selection of Clark. They've said that, after speaking with Clark and those around him, they're confident that Clark didn't assault Hurt. But this story is already getting a lot of negative feedback from those both inside and outside of Seattle:
So there's a very real chance that Clark's future in Seattle could be in doubt. Stay tuned to see how the Seahawks react to the latest wrinkle in this story.
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[via Seattle Times]
