Bragg Charges Dropped
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Still shouldn’t have happened, but good news for KU.
Charge Dismissed Against Bragg and Case Filed Against Soofi
On Friday, December, 9, 2016 officers were dispatched to a 911 call from a female claiming that Carlton Bragg had struck her and pushed her down stairs. Upon arriving to the 1000 block of Emery Road, officers made contact with Saleeha Soofi. Soofi claimed that she was in an argument with Bragg in a stairwell and during the argument, Bragg punched her and shoved her down the stairs. The officers photographed an injury to Soofi’s elbow. Later that morning Bragg was interviewed and acknowledged he was involved in an argument with Soofi but he denied striking her. Consistent with Lawrence Police Department policy Bragg was placed under arrest.
The District Attorney’s office reviewed the 911 call, initial investigative reports, in-car camera video of statements given by Soofi and photographs of Soofi’s injuries. At the conclusion of the review, the District Attorney’s Office found there was probable cause to file a complaint against Bragg.
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on December 9, 2016, Soofi was requested to come to the Law Enforcement Center to further document any evidence of injury. During this encounter Soofi indicated she may have struck Bragg first during the argument. An interview was conducted and at the end of the interview pursuant to Lawrence Police Department policy Soofi was placed under arrest for battery.
Lawrence Police Department detectives became aware that a surveillance video possibly existed and returned to the scene on Saturday, December 10, 2016 and recovered a video. Review of the surveillance video depicted a male and female in the stairwell of the building engaged in an argument. The video depicts a female shoving and slapping the male in the chest numerous times and placing her hands near the neck of the male on at least two occasions. After being struck by female, the male forcefully shoves her away from him causing the female to fall backwards up the ascending stairs behind her.
Based upon the additional evidence available to the District Attorney’s Office the charge against Bragg has been dismissed. A one-count complaint charging battery has been filed against Soofi. If approved by the district court, a summons will be issued for her appearance in court.
All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Charges are merely allegations of criminal conduct.
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@YellowBeak Thank you.
Extra points for anyone who, in all the speculation and rumors after Bragg’s arrest, tossed out the possibility that Bragg might actually have pushed a woman UP the stairs.
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@mayjay I did not. When the charging docs arrived to my office I stood up and said there is no way Carlton would’ve done this. The coworkers went negative. Now we know why the dude was smiling in his mug, cuz he knew he wasn’t 100% fault in this case. This will make this team so much stronger. I only hope Carlton matures into the man that he’s destined to be. And stays away from the crazy ones… it’s not worth the hassle.
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And stays away from the crazy ones… it’s not worth the hassle.
Amen
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@dylans All too often the crazy ones tend to seem really interesting as their synapses sometimes are firing a zillion times a second with clever quips and ripostes but the mis-firing isn’t apparent until later.
Happens with politicians a lot, too.
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I wonder if our guys have the “golden rule” used by so many teams in just about all sports -
“Never go out by yourself, and always have at least one teammate with you.”
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@drgnslayr in looking at the witness list on the court document, I have a hunch he had a buddy or two with him.
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@YellowBeak Sooo, can you share?
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Heard a funny joke, @JayHawkFanToo will like this. we were lucky SZ didn’t get a hold of bragg’s video. He would have sold the rights to it, nobody in ks could have seen it, Bragg would still be in jail.
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Bragg is very lucky man. I know justice prevailed here. Yet there isn’t always a camera to show your innocence. So many think that stars at big time schools can get away with anything. Maybe in some schools (cough sec). Yet all it took is one phone call from a female screaming abuse, and Bragg is picked up arrested and charged. It took stone cold evidence for the charges to be dropped. Luckily every thing turned out as it should.
Kids will be kids and Bragg is still just a young man. KU players have to realize everybody wants a piece of them good or bad. Staying out after midnight is not a good idea. No matter what Braggs intentions were. The first question was what was he doing out after midnight.
Hopefully Bragg has learned from this experience. He might not be so lucky next time. The world is no longer about right and wrong. It’s about mob rule, and class warfare. Bragg got lucky this time. The powers to be were loading up and ready to make a deal out of this. Just ask Kevin Keitzmen from 810 am. I know he’s nothing but a douche when it comes to KU and Coach, but he still has a platform. A lot of people listen to the man.
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Couldn’t have said it better. The harsh reality of the world we live in today.
It might have been cool and glamorous to have fame 50 years ago. Today it is a headache, and even players for KU need to think like presidents of countries when it comes to safety.
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@DoubleDD KK couldn’t keep his mouth shut
if he were on his knees in a room full of d#@ks.
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Unfortunately…or fortunately as the case might be, just about everything that happens in a place where there are a few people, now there is always someone with a phone camera recording the event.
I went to Walmart a couple of days ago and as I was walking in there was Police officer talking to a couple by the front entrance. It appeared to be a routine conversation, they could have been friends, nevertheless there were at least a half dozen people with cell phone recording the conversation from various distances. A few days ago there was video on Facebook of two women fighting in a department store and in the video you could see dozens of people video taping the scene with their cell phones and yet no one stepped in to stop the fight. I would be surprised if there are aren’t several recording of the Bragg incident that would have showed up sooner or later…probably on a tabloid.
