Four football players charged

Four Southeast Missouri State University football players were charged with assault Tuesday for an ambush beating of two Southeast students at a fraternity party.

Circuit Judge William Syler set bonds at $5,000 for each player charged. Three of the players face two counts each of misdemeanor assault, while the fourth player faces a single misdemeanor count.

Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Barry Hovis said officers were attempting to serve the warrants and arrest the four Tuesday evening.

One player, D'Eldrick D. Taylor, 21, of Vicksburg, Miss., had been arrested as of 7 p.m. Taylor, a starting safety for the Redhawks, faces a single misdemeanor assault count for punching sophmore Ransom Ward of St. Louis.

The other three players charged are:

* Timmy L. Holloman, 19, of Orlando, Fla., a reserve running back who faces two counts. He is charged with kicking sophmore Shaun Johnson of St. Louis in the face and punching Ward.

* Gerald D. Breedlove, 22, of Tulsa, Okla., a reserve defensive back who faces two counts. He is charged with kicking Johnson and Ward in the face.

* Frederick D. Williams of Tampa, Fla., a sophmore reserve linebacker who faces two counts. He is accused of kicking Ward and Johnson in the face.

The charges came at an awkward time for the university.

Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman will interview two candidates this week for the Redhawks's head coaching job. When informed that charges were filed against four players during an interview with the Southeast Missourian, Kaverman said he would handle discipline against the players.

"This isn't something a new football coach should have to deal with," Kaverman said. "This is something that occurred prior and we will take care of it."

He would not, however, say what steps would be taken. "This is news to me. Once I get the facts and talk to the appropriate campus authorities, we will take whatever action we deem is necessary."

The campus Judicial Affairs Office, which deals with student discipline, also is likely to look at the attack and take steps, Kaverman said.

The police investigation started after Ward and Johnson reported they were attacked early in the morning Dec. 4 as they left a party sponsored by the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. They told officers they were surrounded by up to 15 people, punched and knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly.

Ward suffered a black eye, fractured nose and cuts on his chin requiring stitches. Johnson also suffered a black eye, and three teeth were damaged, including one that was pushed back almost to the roof of his mouth.

Ward bled profusely, leaving large stains on the T-shirt he wore. Johnson was knocked unconscious, then helped to Southeast Missouri Hospital for treatment. Ward returned to campus on a shuttle bus, then went for treatment on advice of his roommates.

Johnson's dentist had to wire the teeth together to strengthen them, his mother said, and he has been receiving almost daily medical care.

Sylvia Johnson, Shaun Johnson's mother, said Tuesday evening that the charges leveled against her son's attackers are too light. "Something else needs to be done," she said. "I need to make phone calls tomorrow morning because misdemeanors are not going to set with me."

Police asked for charges against seven people, Hovis said. Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle authorized charges only against the four players so far. He did not return calls Tuesday seeking comment.

Often in misdemeanors, courts issue summonses to appear rather than arrest warrants. In this case, however, arrests are necessary to help compel the accused to return for trial, Hovis said.

"On misdemeanor warrants, it is almost impossible to extradite them back when they leave the state," Hovis said.

According to a sworn statement filed with the charges, Cape Girardeau police Cpl. Don Perry said the witness accounts matched descriptions of the attack provided by Ward and Johnson.

The statement differs, however, in one detail. Perry wrote that several witnesses reported that Ward was intoxicated and "verbally trying to pick fights with other people at the party."

Both Johnson and Ward, in interviews with the Southeast Missourian, have said they did nothing to provoke the attack.

Witnesses, Perry wrote, reported that Ward said "I'm all about that gun play!" at the party.

Ward denied saying anything like that in an interview Tuesday. "Why would I run my mouth when it is two people against the whole football team?" Ward said. "Not even being intoxicated would make me do that."

The first blow was delivered by Taylor as he punched Ransom from behind, witness Tyler Edgar told police. Edgar, a Southeast student from Millstadt, Ill., also told police he saw Breedlove kick Ward in the face, according to Perry's statement.

Holloman kicked Johnson as he lay on the ground, John Chappell told detectives. Chappell, a Southeast student from Lincoln Village, Ohio, said he believed Holloman's kick did the most damage to Johnson's mouth, Perry wrote.

Chappell and Edgar said they saw Williams kick Ward and Johnson in the face as they lay on the ground.

Neither Ward nor Johnson have been interviewed by police since Dec. 4 when they made their initial reports.

The charge doesn't make sense, Ward said. "I don't think that is right. They weren't doing a misdemeanor to us. That was assault."