ST. LOUIS (AP) -Missouri basketball player Kalen Grimes was accused of striking a man in the face with the butt of a shotgun, police said.
The St. Louis County prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that formal charges of second-degree assault were pending against Grimes, Missouri’s leading rebounder last season. Tigers coach Mike Anderson suspended Grimes indefinitely on Monday for violating team policy.
Grimes’ brother, Michael, was struck in the head with a lug wrench. Police said no one was seriously hurt.
“I think it could have turned into some tragic incident,” Florissant Police Chief William Karabas said. “These people are going to recover. They got a bop on the head. What if somebody got shot, or got hit so hard he was killed?”
The incident happened early Saturday and began when Grimes’ cousin, Ryan Fisher, and another man got into an argument over a woman at a Jack in the Box restaurant, Karabas said. The skirmish spilled over onto a Dairy Queen parking lot nearby.
Karabas said Fisher called the 21-year-old Grimes to say he was getting into a fight. Grimes and his brother drove to the restaurant to offer help.
Kalen Grimes admitted getting out of the car, pumping the shotgun twice, then striking the man, Karabas said. The victim suffered a cut to the forehead.
Meanwhile, the brother of the man arguing with Fisher grabbed a lug wrench and used it to strike Michael Grimes in the head, Karabas said. That man has not been charged.
After the fight, Grimes and his brother drove away. An officer pulled over Grimes and arrested him without incident. Karabas said a loaded .40-caliber pistol was found in the car.
Grimes, of Columbia, did not have a listed phone number. A spokesman for the basketball team declined comment.
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