A witness to the incident that led to the arrest of sports columnist Jay Mariotti has provided details to a sports news website. He claims to have had a front row seat to the action both outside and inside the lobby of Mariotti's apartment building.
Deadspin.com has published an account as reported by the witness who wants to remain anonymous, at least at this point. He reports that he watched as the situation escalated, while in the company of his own girlfriend and instructed her to call the police. According to Deadspin, the witness provided the same information to the police.
Mariotti was taken into custody early Saturday morning on suspicion of felony domestic violence. He was booked and released after posting bond and is scheduled to be in Los Angeles Superior Court on September 17 for a hearing.
The writer and TV personality was in the midst of restarting a radio career in Los Angeles and had recently moved to Venice, California. It was reported on Tuesday that he just entered into a contract to sell his home outside Chicago. After spending almost two decades on the staff of the Chicago Sun-Times, he abruptly quit after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and started writing for AOL's FanHouse.
Mariotti Eyewitness Saw Violence Escalate and Called Police
Mariotti also appears regularly on the afternoon sports-talk program, "Around The Horn", broadcast on ESPN. Neither the sports network nor AOL has been willing to comment about Mariotti's future with them, although insiders at ESPN claim to know he will be history after all the facts are gathered and reviewed. Original story including sources statements about Mariotti's future, can be found here.
The eyewitness told Deadspin that he was sitting in his car across from the Air apartment complex at about 3:15 am Saturday morning. He saw a couple arguing and then described the scene this way: "It got heated fast. He was boxing her out every time she tried to get around him. He mirrored every side step she made. "
Once the woman with Mariotti got past him and into the building lobby, which is glass, the witness said things got nastier.
"She sat on a couch and he grabbed her by the hair and whipped her around a bit — ripped something out of her ear and shoved her around. With those actions I told my girl to call the cops," the witness told Deadspin. "[H]e was ripping stuff off the walls and firing it in the lobby too. some papers or something. i guess to show how macho he was."
A full transcript of the eyewitness account can be found, here.
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