Ex-UT athlete acquitted of assault

2/22/2013

A former University of Toledo football player was acquitted of felonious assault Thursday after a one-day trial before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Gene Zmuda.

Samuel Gaymon, 22, had been charged with assaulting Braylin Crooks in a fight outside Chasers bar at Dorr Street and Byrne Road last August. He was suspended from the UT football team because of the charge.

Defense attorneys Richard Kerger and Khary Hanible had argued that Mr. Gaymon, who is now in graduate school at UT, was defending himself after he was jumped by three men outside the bar.

Mike Loisel, an assistant prosecutor, said the state felt the facts supported a conviction but “obviously the judge felt otherwise.”