2 Bruin Football Players Face Charges in Beating

Two UCLA football players face criminal charges in connection with the beating last May of a fellow student outside a Westwood fast-food eatery, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Thursday.

Roman Phifer, 21, and Damion Lyons, 21, are scheduled to enter pleas to misdemeanor battery charges Sept. 11 in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Dept. City Attorney Mauri Reese said.

Phifer, a junior outside linebacker who was expected to challenge for a starting position this season, was suspended from the team for the 1989 season because of violations of university rules and regulations, UCLA announced Wednesday.

Also suspended for the season Wednesday for unrelated violations of university rules was Willie Crawford, a freshman reserve free safety.

Lyons, a junior cornerback, is still on the team but is no longer listed No. 2 on the depth chart, as he was last month at the start of fall practice.

According to an eyewitness account given to campus police, Scott Szymanski, 21, a campus security officer and student at UCLA, suffered multiple bruises after allegedly being assaulted by Phifer and Lyons at about 4:20 a.m. on May 24.

Szymanski told police that he was kicked repeatedly after being thrown to the ground, Reese said.

Reese said the alleged assault was precipitated by an incident last Jan. 16, during which Szymanski confronted Phifer, Lyons and a third man at a parking structure on campus, asking them not to sit on a gate because they might break it.

Szymanski and the three men exchanged words before Szymanski called campus police, and the three men fled, according to a report of the incident. Campus police reported that they stopped the three men but released them after questioning.

Then, early on the morning of May 24, Szymanski allegedly was verbally assaulted by Phifer, Lyons and a third UCLA football player, Anthony Burnett, upon entering a fast-food restaurant in Westwood, according to a report given to police.

The police reported that Phifer and Lyons allegedly urinated on Szymanski’s car. And later, as he was attempting to leave, Szymanski allegedly was assaulted by Phifer and Lyons.

Szymanski attempted to flee, but Phifer and Lyons caught up with him and threw him to the ground, “whereupon they kicked him repeatedly in the side and head,” according to a statement given to police by a witness, Lisa Tateishi.

Phifer told police that he had been “drinking heavily,” the report said.

Neither Phifer nor Lyons could be reached for comment.

Burnett, a junior who last month was declared academically ineligible to play this season, was not charged with battery, but faces charges of driving with a suspended license.

Burnett told police that he did not participate in the alleged beating.

If convicted, Phifer and Lyons face a maximum sentence of six months in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.