Former Dolphins linebacker charged in alleged road rage assault

AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Former Miami Dolphins linebacker Steve Towle was charged with felony first-degree assault in what prosecutors said was a road rage incident that left a man hospitalized with bleeding from the brain.

Towle, 51, was arrested after the incident Wednesday night in the Kansas City suburb of Independence and charged Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court. A police statement said the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Towle admitted either punching or pushing the other man, Rudolph Babbitt, and said Babbitt hit his head on the ground when he fell.

Babbitt, of Independence, was placed on a ventilator and remained hospitalized Friday morning, Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said. Towle was released on $10,000 bond, and no court date had been announced by prosecutors.

According to a court document, witnesses -- including Babbitt's 15-year-old son, who was riding with his father -- told Independence police that Towle and Babbitt got into an argument in traffic after Towle's van allegedly cut off Babbitt's vehicle.

The two then scuffled after Towle cut off Babbitt's vehicle, got out and confronted him.

The document also said Towle told one officer he punched Babbitt but later told a detective that he pushed Babbitt after the two exchanged shoves and Babbitt tried to kick him.

Towle, a former star at the University of Kansas who played for the Dolphins from 1975-80 and still holds the team's single-season tackles record, now lives in the suburb of Lee's Summit. He does not have a listed telephone number.

He was drafted in the third round in 1975, after an all-Big Eight senior season at Kansas, and was the Dolphins' most valuable player in 1976, when he set the record of 217 tackles.