The allegations were ugly and troubling. The decision by law enforcement in Texas not to pursue the case was firm yet confusing.
Did Johnny Manziel repeatedly hit his girlfriend last Friday night, drag her by the hair and hauntingly order her to "shut up or I'll kill us both"? In terms of the legal process we'll never know since Dallas police closed the case detailed in a report viewed by WFAA-TV.
Whatever remains of Manziel's football future probably hangs in the balance of what private investigators, including the NFL itself, can glean from potential evidence and witnesses that come from the police report filed by Manziel's ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley. The Cleveland Browns are expected to formally cut Manziel in March at the start of the league's business year, freeing him to sign anywhere that will take him.
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If teams care enough to look, parts of Crowley's story make this more than just a she said, he said that often plagues these kinds of cases. That could be good or bad for Manziel. That means his prospects may all boil down to a parking valet at a Dallas hotel, surveillance video and a neighbor of Crowley's at her apartment complex.
Presumably Dallas police spoke to or viewed all those items before closing the case without charges. Its threshold, however, is different than any NFL team willing to take a flyer on Manziel.
Thursday brought a WFAA-TV report of a Fort Worth (Texas) police report detailing, courtesy of Crowley, a wild Friday night of fighting with her longtime boyfriend that didn't end until she said she threatened him with a kitchen knife. It included Crowley alleging Manziel appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
It began with Crowley and some friends reportedly meeting up with Manziel at his room at Hotel ZaZa, a boutique hotel in Uptown Dallas. The couple argued over another girl before Manziel forced Crowley downstairs and to the valet area, where she asked the valet to help her. "I was crying and begged the valet, 'Please don't let him take me. I'm scared for my life!' " according to the police report.
They did leave though and wound up parked outside a nearby bar. Crowley reportedly told police she got out of the car and tried to hide in some bushes but Manziel found her and pulled her back in the vehicle.
"He grabbed me by my hair and threw me back into the car and got back in himself," Crowley reportedly told police. "He hit me with his open hand on my left ear for jumping out of the car. I realized immediately that I could not hear out of that ear, and I still cannot today, two days later."
The two wound up on the interstate driving toward Crowley's apartment with Manziel telling her "I hate you!” and threatening to harm her, himself and both, according to the report. Later, in her apartment, they got into another heated dispute with Crowley saying she so feared for her life she brandished a knife to defend herself.
"I was in my kitchen, so out of fear for my life, I pulled a knife out of my knife block and advanced toward him," Crowley reportedly told police. "He ran out of the apartment." She went to a neighboring apartment to get help.
Manziel spoke to TMZ Sports and sounded like a guy who is just skipping along like nothing is wrong, that a snap of the fingers and the snap of the ball and it's all back to normal.
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