Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

NCAA FB

UT's Alexis Johnson arrested on charges of assault, false imprisonment

By FoxSports
Published | Updated
e9c1a3d0-

Oct 14, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; A helmet on display after the announcement that the Tennessee Volunteers and Virginia Tech Hokies will play a football game on Sep. 10, 2016 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee defensive lineman Alexis Johnson has been arrested on charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

University of Tennessee police stated in court documents obtained Thursday that Johnson was "play fighting" with a woman in a Knoxville apartment Sunday between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., and that it escalated until he placed his hands around her throat two to three times. Police say the woman indicated "the constriction was so tight that she could not fight back and she felt she was going to pass out."

Johnson was booked on Wednesday. Tennessee athletic department spokesman Ryan Robinson said late Wednesday night that the junior-college transfer has been suspended from all team activities.

The documents state that the woman told police she slapped Johnson in defense and that Johnson "attempted to repetitively" touch and kiss the woman. Police said the woman told Johnson repeatedly that she didn't want to have sex with him. The woman told police that as she attempted to leave the bedroom, Johnson blocked the door.

The woman also told police she and Johnson had previously dated two times and she had had sex with him once, according to the documents.

Police said a witness indicated Johnson appeared to be "really punching" the woman during the play fighting. The witness told police the woman's lip was "busted."

Johnson, a 20-year-old from Atlanta, signed with Tennessee in December after spending the 2014 and 2015 seasons at Fort Scott (Kansas) Community College.

The arrest comes one week after six unidentified women filed a lawsuit in federal court that said Tennessee has violated Title IX regulations and created a "hostile sexual environment" through a policy of indifference toward assaults by student-athletes.