According to reports, linebacker Reuben Foster was released by the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday after he was arrested on a domestic violence charge at a hotel in Tampa, Florida.
The Niners released Foster before their matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Foster, 24, was arrested on Saturday after 9 p.m. by Tampa police after authorities responded to the Grand Hyatt hotel, per a city release. The release also states that Foster was charged with one count of the first-degree misdemeanor, domestic violence battery and was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail.
The alleged victim is 28-year-old Elissa Ennis, who reportedly had been “in an on-again-off-again relationship over the past three years with Foster. According to the police report, Ennis says that he “slapped her phone out of her hand, pushed her in the chest area, and slapped her with an open hand on the right side of her face.” Officers observed a one-inch scratch on the victim’s left collarbone.
In addition, two members of the hotel’s valet-parking staff said an ambulance was at the team hotel earlier that Saturday night.
Even with Foster’s attorney advocating on his behalf, The judge in the case found probable cause to charge Foster with domestic violence and set his bond was set at $2,000. Foster was also ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim and do not carry any weapons or firearms.
Foster has been dealing with off-the-field issues for quite a while now. During the offseason in February, he was allegedly arrested on charges of felony domestic violence at his Los Gatos home with the same victim, leaving her bruised and with a ruptured eardrum. The case would later be dismissed after Ennis said that she had lied about the allegations in order to get money from Foster.
In January, he and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana after an incident in Alabama. The charges would be dropped after he completed a first-time offender diversion course. He was also arrested and eventually pleaded no contest on a misdemeanor weapons charge, however, was sentenced to two years’ probation, had to complete 232 hours of community service and was fined.
He was eventually suspended for the first two games of this season for violating league policy regarding those incidents.
The Niners had made it clear in a statement that any player who committed domestic violence would no longer have a place on their team. The 49ers stood by that statement when releasing Foster.
“We have a set of standards in place that the players were involved with in developing,” said 49ers general manager John Lynch. “In this case, it was communicated exceptionally clear and to the point as to what we expected out of him and unfortunately what transpired yesterday, this isn’t a comment on what happened there because that would be mere speculation on our part. It’s more of a comment on him not living up to what we had communicated and to the energy and the time that we’ve invested in him.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t love him, we all do, we care for him but we feel like it’s in the best interest of our organization to move on at this point and that’s a very tough decision.”
Foster was taken with the 31st overall pick in last year’s NFL draft by San Francisco. In his two seasons with the 49ers, Foster played in 16 games and recorded 84 tackles. Although this didn’t pan out as the organization thought it would, Lynch doesn’t regret his decision.
“I think we learn from it,” Lynch said. “You have to learn from every situation. Ultimately, these guys are human beings and they’re young men and they’re fallible. I think one thing we have to do, we have to learn from the process and we have and we will.”
