Suspended ASU football player’s girlfriend says she made claims of abuse up over jealousy, was never hit

By SNEJANA FARBEROV FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The girlfriend of an Arizona State University football player who has been suspended after she accused him of abuse has now publicly recanted her story, claiming that mood swings made her lie about being assaulted.

Davon Durant, a promising linebacker at ASU, was arrested on domestic violence charges after his girlfriend of 18 months, Kelsi Langley, claimed that he hit her in the face and grabbed her neck during an argument in his car March 7.

Following his arrest, Durant, a transfer from a Kansas college and a five-star recruit, was suspended from the football team indefinitely and could be facing expulsion.

Less than two weeks after the incident, Langley walked back her previous statements in interviews with reporters, and on Tuesday afternoon she held a press conference that she claims set the record straight.

Standing on ASU’s campus alongside civil rights leader Reverend Jarret Maupin, the 19-year-old Ms Langley said her earlier assault story was ’completely made up’ and Durant was innocent.

‘I was angry. I’m a woman. Women have mood swings,’ Langley said. ‘We had gotten into an argument about girls trying to talk to him and I was really jealous of that,’ reported AZ Central.

Davon Durant pleaded not guilty to one felony count of aggravated assault and three misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct.

According to a police report, Kelsi Langely suffered a bruise below her left eye and there were visible finger marks around her neck.

The 19-year-old refused medical care and declined to help with her boyfriend’s prosecution, according to Temple police.

During Tuesday’s press conference, Langley and Maupin pointed a finger of blame at the local police and the media, accusing them of trying to make Durant out to be ‘some big black athlete’ and blowing a lovers’ quarrel out of proportions.

The 19-year-old woman said that during her interview with police after the March 7 incident, officers asked her questions that were ‘almost suggestive.’

Maupin said Langley returned to the precinct the next day and withdrew her complaint. She also posted Durant’s bail.

‘These aren’t the actions of someone who has been severely abused or lives in fear,’ the civil rights activist told reporters.

Ms Langley insisted that she does not want to be portrayed as a victim ‘because that’s not the case at all.’

‘He never laid a finger on me,’ she stated. ‘Davon would never touch me. There’s no way. He’s the kindest person I’ve ever met in my entire life. He couldn’t hurt a fly, and it was my anger that got the best of me.

‘Everyone’s been in a relationship, everyone gets into arguments, and a lot of people say things that they don’t mean.’

However, a 911 recording released by police to Fox 10 Phoenix appears to corroborate Langley’s original statement.

A witness called police March 7 telling a 911 operator that he had seen a man beating a girl in a car. The caller said other people also witnessed the altercation.

But Langley insisted that the witness was wrong, and that their dispute never turned physical. She now wants all charges against Durant dropped.

In her first conversation with detectives, Kelsi Langley reportedly described how she got into an argument with Durant and told him she wanted him to leave, reported AZFamily.com.

The football player then allegedly demanded that Langley go up to her apartment with him so he could retrieve some of his belongings, but the woman refused. That is when Durant allegedly struck her in the face and squeezed her neck.

In his version of events, Durant said he had a verbal dispute with Langley in his car.

‘When I lied to the police, it was out of spite,’ Langley told ESPN a week and a half after the incident. ‘I wasn’t thinking. It was a very vengeful and spiteful thing to do.’

During the interview, the ASU student said that the bruises on her neck were ‘hickeys’ and her eyes were red from crying.

‘I already knew I had marks on my neck, and I knew I could pass them off as something,’ she said.

Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has released a statement saying: ‘In domestic violence cases it is especially important to avoid placing victims at the center of evidentiary disputes outside of the court process.