Jurisprudence
An investigation has begun involving a restaurant worker’s allegation that New Mexico State basketball players beat him last week.
Police say one piece of evidence is the imprint of an athletic shoe on the face of victim Conrad Padilla.
“It may take a week or a week and a half to wrap up the investigation, then we will see what we have and whether the judge will accept the charges,” said Pete Hampton, police chief of Las Cruces, N.M., who conducted interviews Tuesday.
Padilla has identified star guard Sam Crawford, Cliff Reed, Marc Thompson, Darrin Jackson and Corey Rogers as players who were at the Great American Food and Beverage Company restaurant Dec. 19, shortly before the alleged beating.
Neil McCarthy, New Mexico State coach, said three of the players claimed they were not at the restaurant that night. He gave no names.
Crawford has told the Las Cruces Sun-News that he was in El Paso the night of the alleged beating.
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