Rumors about police timing an arrest of a Washington (Massillon, Ohio) football player in order to disadvantage them against Archbishop Hoban (Akron, Ohio) or that the player was defending his grandma are both being called nonsense by authorities.
As reported by The Repository, a senior and college prospect, 17, was arrested four days before the Division II regional championship against Archbishop Hoban. The student’s identity is not given because he is a minor.
“We do believe we have absolutely the right suspect,” Akron police spokesman Lt. Michael Miller told The Repository. “I’m trying to go at length to dispel these nonsense rumors.”
Authorities are saying that the high school senior punched a 58-year-old man in the back of the head in a Popeye’s parking lot on Aug. 4. The man, knocked from his bicycle, was found unconscious and bleeding, with swelling and brain trauma.
“There’s a lot of questioning about the timing,” Miller told The Repository about what he has heard from the public and media. “Why was it right before a certain sporting event or things of that nature. I know that the victim sustained a substantial head injury. That combined with locating a witness who was said to be out of town or out of state, it just took time (to) gather evidence. And it’s not uncommon for it to take time for a case to materialize.”
