March 16, 2005
Jim Wyatt
Staff Writer, The Tennessean
Counselor offers to help Titans keep aggression out of personal lives.
Team, NFL say they already have programs to deter domestic violence.
In the wake of two arrests of Titans players in the past month on charges of domestic violence, the executive director for a domestic violence center in Nashville is volunteering to help.
Even before a reporter called yesterday, Valerie Wynn was making plans to get Jeff Fisher's e-mail address or phone number. Wynn, executive director of the Mary Parrish Center in downtown Nashville, hopes the Titans coach will take her up on her offer. "Obviously, Jeff has a dilemma on his hands, a serious dilemma," Wynn said. "People know the Titans, and now the country is looking at this and saying, 'Oh, boy, there they go again.' But this is not just a problem with the Titans, this is a problem with society. Still, (the Titans) obviously need to do more.
"I would be more than happy to sit down with Jeff and talk to him about this problem and how he might address it with his players. These guys need to sit down and be told what it feels like to be the victim."
Titans tackle Brad Hopkins was arrested Monday and charged with domestic assault after a confrontation with his wife outside a Cool Springs restaurant. Ellen Hopkins said in a police report that her husband "grabbed her by the neck" and choked her when she would not end a cell phone conversation.
Last month, cornerback Samari Rolle was charged with assaulting his wife at the couple's home in Brentwood after Danisha Rolle was treated for three stitches above her left eye at a local hospital. The Titans later released Rolle, who was signed by the Baltimore Ravens. Both players are due in court in the coming weeks.
To help get his team's attention, Fisher had Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas join him in addressing a group of players last month after the arrest of another Titans player, safety Tank Williams, on DUI charges.
Yesterday, some wondered if the Titans, and the National Football League, need to do more, especially when it deals with violent crimes.
"I think the team will hopefully do something and take a public stand against these guys, if they are convicted, in terms of sanctioning their ability to continue to play and use it as an opportunity to get involved in local domestic programs," said Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida.
Lapchick points to his organization's Mentors in Violence Prevention Program. The program targets domestic violence and is used by the Marine Corps and the NFL's New England Patriots.
"I don't think any pro league does enough," Lapchick said. "There are programs available where athletes can be trained on issues of how to prevent violence. ... The NFL policy helps, but education is one of the keys to making things better."
The Titans and the NFL contend that policies are already in place to help keep violent crimes from taking place.
At the NFL Rookie Symposium each year, players entering the league are given a handbook that has the league's personal conduct policy in it. At the symposium, there's a three-hour session where all the policies are discussed, and there's a panel discussion, along with breakout groups.
Before the 1997 season, the NFL became the first league in major sports to institute a policy that allowed for penalties for off-the-field violence. It calls for mandatory psychological evaluation for any player accused of a violent crime and fines and punishments, including suspensions and fines, for players convicted of or admitting to a violent crime.
"The personal conduct policy is something we take very seriously," said Steve Alic, information director for the NFL's American Football Conference. "It is paramount." The NFL said it does not have a list of players who have been charged with or convicted of domestic assault in recent years, and said it is confidential which players are in the program.
Former Titans safety Marcus Robertson is the director of player development for the team. The Titans send their draft picks to the preseason symposium, and in the "bye" week during the season the team gathers again to discuss life situations, which involves discussions on domestic violence and DUI.
The team provides seminars throughout the season and off-season, and players are addressed as a team and individually.
"I can't tell you how disappointed I am to hear about the news involving Brad. It would be upsetting on its own, but becomes especially troubling after what has transpired this off-season," Fisher said in a statement yesterday. " ... We obviously have talked about these issues at length as a team and will continue to do so in the future."
Fisher was unavailable yesterday for comment on Wynn's offer.
Wynn yesterday gave detailed statistics about the problems with domestic violence in the United States. According to Wynn, 4 million women are victimized each year, and 11 were killed in Nashville in 2004. Tennessee ranks fourth in the country in domestic homicides and 135 Nashville residents have been killed because of domestic violence since 1995, she said.
Wynn said she and her husband, Mark Wynn, a former Metro police officer who now trains people how to respond to domestic violence, are willing to meet with Titans players and their wives at no charge. It could be done in a group setting, she said, and wives also could meet with them confidentially.
"I think what needs to be done is the players need to be addressed and then the wives need to be talked to. What I believe - and only because I have dealt with this issue so long - is if there have been two reports in the last few months, there's more, we are just not hearing about it.
"They are not being reported, and certainly in high-profile families, the wives or victims tend to be more hesitant to report it."
The Mary Parrish Center opened in February 2002 and since has worked as a clearinghouse for services to thousands of domestic-violence victims in the Nashville area. Wynn said she doesn't believe violence from the game spills over into the personal lives of the players. Lapchick said there's a mistaken stereotype that athletes are more inclined to be violent against women than non-athletes.
Both, however, say something needs to be done to keep players out of the headlines for the wrong reasons in the future.
"Personally, I don't know if the ramifications for high-profile people are like they should be," Wynn said. "I mean, if you are a police officer and you get convicted of domestic violence, you lose your job. If you are a football player, baseball player or even a movie star and you beat your wife, you get a smack on the hand and you go about your business and you still are an example to other people."
The NFL stepped up its policy against violent crimes in 2000, but there have been numerous arrests on domestic violence charges, including:
• Last season, Denver Bronco Dwayne Carswell was suspended one game and was docked another paycheck after an arrest for domestic assault, but it was the third time women had accused him of assault.
• In 2003, Dallas Cowboy Tyrone Williams served a two-game suspension over a domestic incident.
• In 2000, former Titan Denard Walker was suspended for one game after an incident with the mother of his child, and he entered a conditional plea. He received probation for a year and was ordered to attend domestic abuse classes.
• Tampa Bay's Michael Pittman was charged with domestic assault in an incident involving his wife in 2003.
• Patriot Corey Dillon faced domestic assault charges while with the Bengals in 2000.
• In 2001, Carolina Panther Rae Carruth was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder of his pregnant girlfriend. He is serving 18 years. She died. The baby lived.
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