Former Texas Christian University football player KaVontae Turpin pleaded guilty Monday to assault causing bodily injury - family violence related to an October 2018 assault of his longtime girlfriend, prosecutors say.
Turpin, who was a wide receiver/kick returner on the Horned Frogs football team until he was dismissed in the fall of 2018, will serve two years deferred adjudication probation and must complete a 27-week Partner Abuse Intervention Program through SafeHaven of Tarrant County.
"While KaVontae Turpin may have been a star on the football field, his actions here are unacceptable and will not tolerated," said prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel. "Turpin was held accountable for his conduct, and will have the next two years to reflect on what he has done."
Turpin's 2018 arrest came hours after he had a 99-yard kickoff return for his school-record sixth career special teams touchdown and a 41-yard TD catch in TCU's 52-27 home loss to Oklahoma on on October 20.
Police said a witness who lived at Turpin's complex said he and two friends heard screaming in the parking lot and then saw Turpin "manhandle" a woman "by grabbing her from behind with one arm across her neck, her feet dragging as she kicked and yelled at him," according to the affidavit.
The police arrived and, after interviewing the woman, took Turpin into custody at the scene.
The October 2018 allegation against Turpin was the second. Head coach Gary Patterson said Turpin was cut from the team after they learned a previous arrest in March 2018 out of New Mexico also included a battery charge.
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According to a criminal complaint, a Las Cruces police officer wrote that Turpin grabbed and bruised both arms of his victim, ripped her shirt and slammed her phone on the counter, causing the screen to break. Turpin admitted to the officer that he slammed the phone down.
The victim's name was redacted from that report, but the officer wrote that Turpin and the victim had been in an ongoing personal relationship for approximately four years.
That is believed to be the same woman that Turpin was with in October when, according to an arrest affidavit, he was charged with assault causing bodily injury to a family member after Fort Worth police responded to a domestic disturbance call at an off-campus apartment complex.
In the Fort Worth affidavit, a 22-year-old woman who said she had been in a relationship with Turpin for five years told police he "dragged her across the parking lot" and that "he slammed her to the ground," causing her pain. She eventually got away and knocked on a neighbor's door, asking them to call police.
