POCATELLO – Although Idaho State University football player Derek Graves signed a battery complaint against his head coach Mike Kramer on Oct. 26, it will be next week before the city prosecutor's office decides whether to serve that citation and file it with the court.
City Attorney Dean Tranmer said he still wants to see some questions answered.
“If we file the misdemeanor charge, we still have to go to court and prove the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt,” Tranmer said.
He said a definitive decision will come Tuesday or Wednesday.
“We will make a decision,” Tranmer said about filing the battery charge with the court. “I would like to get it over with.”
What is without doubt is the fact Kramer pushed Graves, a senior on the ISU football team, during a practice inside Holt Arena Oct. 3. Graves lost his footing and fell backwards after the shove. A video clip of the incident was shared with ESPN and it has gone viral on the Internet as well as being featured on several TV news and sports programs.
And there is no dispute over the fact Kramer apologized for the incident to Graves and the entire Bengal football team the day after the shove took place.
ISU officials suspended Kramer for one game. That punishment came after an independent investigation into the shoving incident was conducted by the university with the help of a former FBI agent.
Thursday Kramer suspended Graves from the ISU team, citing violations of team rules regarding missed practices.
Graves responded in an ESPN interview by saying the coach has "a vendetta" against him.
Shortly after the shoving incident, Graves hired sports attorney Donald Jackson of Montgomery, Ala. Jackson has criticized the university for failing to impose stricter penalties on Kramer and the city prosecutor for dragging his feet on the criminal prosecution.
In an interview Thursday, Jackson characterized the city police investigation as “the longest misdemeanor investigation in the history of mankind.”
Tranmer said he just wants to make sure Idaho law and due process are being followed. Idaho Code 18-114 which addresses battery and assault crimes states battery requires “a union of act and intent or criminal negligence.”
Tranmer said there is one of three tests that the football practice shoving incident must pass to qualify for a successful prosecution. They are: willful and unlawful use of force; actual, intentional and unlawful striking of another person against their will; or unlawfully and intentionally causing bodily harm.
Since the incident Graves has complained of a neck sprain and medical records were sent to the Pocatello Police Department Oct. 23. Graves signed the criminal complaint against Kramer three days later and detectives verified that the player wanted to pursue those charges again on Oct. 31.
Following Kramer's Thursday suspension of Graves, ISU Athletic Director Jeff Tingey said neither he nor the Bengals coaching staff would be commenting further about the case.
(18) comments
Come On Man![wink]
ISU doesn't release facts!!! I doubt Poky PD will either!! The only one(s) that have released any facts are the player and his attorney.
You must be a lawyer too?
Until we have been presented with ALL of the FACTS regarding what happened, we are not in a position to be able to pass judgement on any of those directly involved. We can only react with assumptions. Yes, shoving the player was wrong. Regardless of what the player did to elicit that sort of response from a coach, there were other ways to handle the situation. Yes football is intense, but the coach has to have restraint as the leader. Yes, you could assume that the player was faking injuries after the shove in order to add weight to his claim, but we cannot be 100% sure unless we have all the facts. We also should not pass judgement on the coach for his decision to suspend the player. Perhaps the player did violate team rules. We just don't know. But if he did, then shame on the player. You have to be able to look at the facts and separate everything out. My only criticism is of the administration and what a terrible job they have done in handling these issues with the media and public. For the future of the program, if there is going to be any, they should have followed the examples of numerous other institutions and done a better job of communicating with the public and presenting FACTS.
its time for ISU to grow up and do something about this incident. they have done enough of the dummy up thing, and it isn't working. give the fans and students some pride for a change. Where is Tingey? or better yet, why is he still there.
I saw this coach on television the first year he was at ISU. He had a player with him during an interview on a local station. The coach belittled him publicly and grinned and smirked while doing it. I guess he thought he was funny.
It didn't get better. I've been waiting for his record to speak for itself, which it has done long ago, but I also hope that his behavior and record will basically brand him the loser he accuses his players of being.
ISU! Take a stand and fire this loser. Suspending the player is the final thing I knew would happen, but I kept thinking that not even Kramer could be that stupid to put ISU in such a legal entanglement.
So because he shoved the player he now has to overlook his lack of dedication? He should have suspended him for going public. Graves needed to go.
Here's how I see it. The argument about not taking a hit on the field is silly. It's the type of irrational thought that empowers monsters like Kramer. He is a teacher--someone entrusted to help players win. Intimidation and humiliation has not worked in this program. He still seems to find little success, and if he found that instead of controversy in previous positions, he wouldn't have had to move about as much as his resumé indicates. I believe this situation reveals an interesting dichotomy; first, there is a serious coaching problem, but most importantly, there is an administrative problem here. I sincerely hope that they have two men looking to do their job somewhere else: a coach being able to belittle players in the media and on the field and a college president with a lack of leadership to take care of problems. He swept this under the rug. When will he actually do something necessary like most schools would have done immediately?
Maybe a kid who can't take a hit shouldn't be on theFootball team for his own health and well being it IS a contact sport
To say this kid can't take a hit suggests that it is normal, or OK, for a Coach to act in this way. I would challenge you to watch his actual play on the field, not how he reacts when his head coach crosses the line as a mentor/teacher. Hit's are from the competition in the field of battle, not your own team or Coach!
Great grammar and punctuation!
The football program is terrible, use the big game money for something worth while.
Wonder what ISU would do if a professor were to run across a lab and shove a student to the floor for doing his experiment wrong?
Exactly!
Professor? LOL!!! Yeah I could so see a skinny liberal pacifist tip toe across the classroom!
Really, RottenPotato, because a coach pushes a player that's a reason to "never attend or be associated with ISU"? Don't be a fool.
I am so disappointed in ISU, to allow this to happen to a young man. This is just another reason to never attend or be associated with this university.
What a travesty. I wish I could shove this coach way back to where he came from.
How delicate! Bake some mediocre cookies and take them to your neighbors. It's on page 33 of your manual.
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