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Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill no longer has a domestic violence conviction on his record.
According to reporting from NewsOK.com, court records show that Hill’s domestic violence case — for which he entered a guilty plea in August 2015 — was dismissed last week, now that Hill has completed his probation requirements.
The court also ordered the case expunged, which removes it from Hill’s record.
In December 2014, Hill — then a star on Oklahoma State University’s football and track teams — was arrested and charged with domestic assault and battery by strangulation, following an incident in which news reports said he punched and choked his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time.
The next day, OSU dismissed Hill from both the football and track teams, saying in a statement that the university did not tolerate domestic abuse or violence.
After pleading guilty to the charge in August 2015, Hill was sentenced to three years probation, and ordered to complete an anger management course and batterer’s intervention program.
In the fall of 2015, Hill enrolled at Division II West Alabama University, where he completed his degree and played football for the WAU Tigers.
Hill declared for the 2016 NFL Draft, but despite his speed — he ran at 4.25 40 at his WAU pro day — and his impressive college record as a kick returner, Hill fell to the fifth round, where he was selected by the Chiefs.
Thanks to Hill’s domestic violence conviction, the pick was immediately controversial. Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger wrote that while people should have second chances, some lines shouldn’t be crossed.
But there have to be certain lines that can’t be crossed, certain sins that can’t be forgiven, and certain acts of violence on defenseless women that can’t be forgotten.
Referencing Mellinger’s column, NewsOK columnist Jenni Carlson said that Hill only had a chance to play in the NFL because there was no video of the incident.
If there would’ve been video on the Hill incident, he wouldn’t have been drafted. But since there’s not, the Chiefs took him, though you can rest assure if they wouldn’t have done it, some other team would’ve. After all, the video that they do have of Hill returning kicks and punts is pretty spectacular.
The Chiefs — sometimes awkwardly — steadfastly defended their choice, saying they had done their due diligence, and believed Hill had learned his lesson. Then-general manager John Dorsey asked for fans to trust their judgement.
“I know that I would never put this community in any type of situation where it would not be good and we’ve done that,” Dorsey said. “I would like to ask for you guys to just have a little bit of trust in us in this thing.”
Mellinger said that the Chiefs were making a large wager with Hill.
The Chiefs are betting that the positive value of Hill’s football talent will outweigh the negative value of the anger the team heard from fans almost immediately after the pick was made.
Based on Arrowhead Pride comment threads from that time, it was apparent that many Chiefs fans would never forgive Hill. It’s true that many still don’t.
But there can be no doubt that Hill has kept his nose clean since his arrival in Kansas City, and there is no question about his value to the Chiefs on the field.
At least for now, the Chiefs have won their bet.