Frank Kearse, whose short-lived New England Patriots career recently ended, was injured Wednesday during an alleged domestic dispute.
Kearse’s girlfriend, Dominique Hooper, inflicted a minor knife wound to the 27-year-old defensive lineman’s upper abdomen during an argument at the couple’s Mansfield, Mass., apartment, according to a police report obtained by The Sun Chronicle.
Kearse reportedly was treated at Sturdy Memorial Hospital and released, and Hooper was charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and domestic assault and battery. She pleaded innocent to both charges, was released on $1,000 bail and is due back in court Sept. 30, according to the report.
Hospital staff reportedly alerted Mansfield police about the alleged altercation.
From The Sun Chronicle:
“Kearse told hospital officials he was in the process of moving and suffered the injury while moving a cardboard box containing knives. One of the knives punctured the box and his abdomen, according to the report.
Detectives responded to the couple’s apartment where Hooper told them a version of the same explanation. Neighbors told police they heard a loud argument from inside the couple’s apartment.
When investigators expressed doubt about the explanation for Kearse’s injury, Hooper allegedly began to cry and admitted to brandishing a knife during an argument about moving and other issues, according to the report.
She allegedly told police Kearse raised a cardboard box to defend himself when he was injured by the knife during the incident, according to the report.
Police said while at the apartment they found a kitchen knife with what appeared to be dried blood on it on a kitchen counter next to a block of knives.”
The Patriots placed Kearse, whom they signed as a free agent in March, on injured reserve last Tuesday. They released him Thursday, according to the NFL’s transaction wire.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
