UM’s York suspended for altercation near bar

Wide receiver accused of breaking man’s jaw

8/13/2014

ANN ARBOR — Csont’e York, a sophomore wide receiver on the Michigan football team, is accused of punching and breaking the jaw of a man July 18 outside a bar in Ann Arbor.

UM announced York’s indefinite suspension from the team Aug. 3. Wolverines coach Brady Hoke said in a statement that York failed to meet “team standards.”

An Ann Arbor police department report obtained Tuesday by The Blade through a Freedom of Information Act request, stated that York struck John Lavoie-Mayer outside Scorekeepers on 315 Maynard St.

A witness, Gabriel Pogilano, told police that “John was jaw jacking. All the sudden, the guy [Csont’e York] just came up and cold-clocked John. John then fell to his left side and hit the cement,” according to the report.

York told police he had been drinking “very little” and that when he walked out of Scorekeepers, he and a group were standing and talking to people and that he was bumped, the report says. It goes on to say that during a verbal altercation, another male approached Michigan teammate Da’Mario Jones, then bumped him.

“I got nerves and scared about the situation so I hit the guy,” York said, according to the police report.

York told police he was trying to defend Jones, the report says. Jones told police, according to the report, that York threw a punch, and that “we ran away because we were scared. I think those guys were trying to antagonize us because we were athletes and knew we could not do anything.”

Lavoie-Mayer’s mother told police that her son sustained a broken jaw in three places, had plates put in and had his jaw wired shut.

Video of the incident obtained through the FOIA request shows a man who appears to be York, wearing a wide-brimmed fishing hat, throwing a punch and leaving the scene. He and Jones were arrested and taken into custody at 5:47 a.m. July 18, though there are no charges pending against Jones. York, 20, registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.057.

York is to be arraigned Aug. 22 in Washtenaw County 15th District Court on one count of aggravated assault and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

Contact Rachel Lenzi at: rlenzi@theblade.com, 419-724-6510, or on Twitter @RLenziBlade.