Former AL MVP Josh Hamilton indicted on charge of injury to a child
Josh Hamilton, former American League MVP and member of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, was indicted on Monday on one charge of injury to a child with intentional bodily injury.
The charge stems from a September incident during which Hamilton allegedly attacked his oldest daughter. According to the arrest warrant affidavit obtained by CBS DFW, Hamilton and his 14-year-old daughter got into a verbal altercation that Hamilton escalated into a physical one. After she said something that upset him, Hamilton started by allegedly hitting her in the chest with a water bottle he threw at her, and it got worse from there.
Cursing and yelling at her, he allegedly pulled a chair out from under where her feet were resting. The girl fell, landing on her hip, which she said caused a bruise. Hamilton then picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her to her bedroom. The affidavit said she was yelling “I’m sorry,” but he continued on to her room. Once there, he allegedly threw her on the bed, pinning her face down on the bed. According to his daughter, he started hitting her legs with both an open hand and closed fist.
Hamilton’s daughter said in the affidavit that Hamilton then picked her up by her sweatshirt, pushed her back onto the bed, and continued hitting her back and legs with an open hands, leaving scratches from his fingernails.
According to her, after he’d finished assaulting her, he said “I hope you go in front of the f---ing judge and tell him what a terrible dad I am so I don’t have to see you anymore and you don’t ever have to come to my house again.”
Hamilton struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout his career (and after), but according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he’d been sober since August.
After Hamilton turned himself in on Oct. 30, he pleaded not guilty. He was released on $35,000 bond and initially forbidden from having any contact with any of his three daughters or anyone under the age of 17. Hamilton had been sharing custody of his daughters with ex-wife Katie, and the order was eventually changed so he could have supervised visits with them.
Despite the indictment, Hamilton’s case was not scheduled to be heard. Courts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are not scheduling hearings until after May 11 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, so Hamilton’s case is being delayed indefinitely.
More from Yahoo Sports:
