Mississippi State football recruit Jeffery Simmons, who was seen in video footage repeatedly striking a woman then appeared to confess to his role in the shocking beatdown in a Facebook apology, has been charged with simple assault and disturbing the peace.
Sophia Taylor, the 30-year-woman seen in the video with punches raining down on her, suffered head and neck injuries in the incident last Thursday evening, her mother told ESPN. However, cops in Macon, Miss., said Taylor also will be cited for disturbing the peace for her role in the fracas, along with three others.
“We’re charging everyone who was fighting,” Macon police chief Lucious Mason told the website. “They’ll all be served with a citation and they’ll all go in front of a judge.”
Taylor’s mother, Ellen Hairston, told ESPN the brawl resulted from a long-standing dispute between her daughter and Simmons’ family. Thursday’s incident allegedly began as an argument between Taylor’s 9-year-old daughter and Simmons’ 10-year-old sister. Hairston said Taylor intervened, and members of Simmons’ family — including another sister, his mother and Simmons himself — responded by pulling Taylor from her car, pushing her to the groundww and pounding her.
“What was I thinking?” Simmons wrote on Facebook. “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking, all I could think was this is my family and I’m supposed to defend my family.”
#MississippiState got a huge commitment from 5-star DE Jeffery Simmons. https://t.co/jyEyVxC7R3pic.twitter.com/nb4aCjtX7y
— MissoSt. on Scout (@MissoStOnScout) February 4, 2016
Hairston had a less noble view of the situation: “My 4-year-old grandson had to watch them beating his mother.”
Will this have any effect on Simmons’ football future? Mississippi State — predictably, you might say — has yet to condemn the 6-foot-4, 262-pound defensive end who was the top-rated prospect in the school’s 2016 signing class. A spokesman said “we are aware of” and “will continue to evaluate the situation,” while Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the local Jackson Clarion Ledger.
