By Deanna Boyd, McClatchy Newspapers –
FORT WORTH, Texas — In an emotional 911 call, the mother of Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant can be heard telling friends that her son “tried to kill me” and that she’s going to “put an end to it today.”
Angela D. Bryant told police that her son hit her across the face with a ball cap, pulled her hair, tore her shirt and bra, and repeatedly struck her hands and wrists when she tried to push him away, according to records released Tuesday by the DeSoto (Texas) Police Department.
“Babe, I can’t keep letting him do this. . . . I can’t let him do me like this. I’m tired. I’m going to put an end to it today,” the 37-year-old woman can be heard telling someone else in the room during her call to 911.
Bryant surrendered to authorities Monday on a Class A misdemeanor warrant for assault with bodily injury and immediately posted bond. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Even if not found guilty of the criminal charge, Bryant could still face discipline under the NFL’s personal conduct policy, an NFL official said Tuesday.
The assault apparently started at Angela Bryant’s home in the 800 block of West Pleasant Run Road in DeSoto about 1:15 p.m. Saturday.
Angela Bryant called 911 from a friend’s nearby house in the 900 block of Longmeadow Lane, telling police that her son was now there.
“He won’t go home. I keep telling him to go home. He won’t go,” she tells the dispatcher as a man can be heard yelling in the background.
Angela Bryant later tells the dispatcher that her son has left in a white Pearl Lincoln Navigator with the license plate “BAILME.”
Angela Bryant told dispatchers that no one had been drinking or taking drugs and that her brother, son and a friend were present when the assault occurred.
When asked if anybody was armed with weapons, Angela Bryant replied “not yet” but said her son had picked up a ball and tried to hit her with it.
“And then he grabbed me. You’ll see when you get here how my clothes look,” she tells the dispatcher.
Police did not immediately arrest Bryant because police saw no evidence of the assault. Evidence of the injuries, however, surfaced a day or two later, said DeSoto police Capt. Ron Smith during a news conference Tuesday morning.
Those injuries, according to the affidavit, included swelling to the woman’s wrists and around her left thumb and bruising on her upper arms. Angela Bryant also complained of pain in her wrists, hands and arms and soreness in her chest from her son pushing her, the affidavit states.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Smith said. “He and his mom got in an argument. It’s physical. She got some injuries. We made the arrest.”
Smith said he did not know what prompted the argument.
“Whatever led to it is really not an issue for us,” Smith said. “We have an injured person. We have a suspect. We’re going to move forward.”
Bryant was unavailable for comment on Monday.
His attorney, Royce West, said Monday that his client turned himself in when he learned there was a warrant out for his arrest, and cooperated with police. West did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
The Cowboys released this statement Monday through spokesman Rich Dalrymple: “We are in the process of gathering information and will not have a comment at this time.”
The incident comes less than two weeks before the start of the Cowboys’ 2012 training camp, which begins officially on July 29 in Oxnard, Calif.
It ends what had been Bryant’s quiet off-season.
