The Baton Rouge Police Department says it continues to investigate a fight last week that allegedly involved four LSU football players in the parking lot of Shady’s bar. At a news conference this afternoon, Police Chief Dewayne White says “about a dozen more witnesses” need to be interviewed. Because no videotape exists of the fight, White says, investigators are hearing two sides of the story, that of the players—Jordan Jefferson, Jarvis Landry, Chris Davenport and Josh Johns—and that of the alleged victims, whose names have not been released.
White says the department is taking the case seriously because of the severity of the injuries. Four men, none of whom are members of the LSU football team, were treated at a hospital. One of the victims suffered three cracked vertebrae; another suffered contusions to his head, nose and hands. Witnesses have described one of the victims being kicked in the head while lying on the ground, Police Sgt. Don Stone says, declining to specify who did the kicking or who was kicked.
Earlier today, the players met several hours with police to discuss the fight, then left without any arrests being made or charges filed. The four players have hired defense attorney Nathan Fisher, who attended the meetings with police. Stone has stressed that White is not giving LSU players any special treatment and the investigation would continue regardless of how much cooperation they received from the players.
