MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Minnesota Vikings defensive back Chris Cook was charged Tuesday for allegedly hitting and choking his girlfriend in a jealous rage at his home.
Cook, 24, who had been jailed since his arrest in Eden Prairie early Saturday, was charged with felony domestic abuse by strangulation, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported. He was arranging for his $40,000 bail and will have a court hearing Wednesday afternoon, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The criminal complaint against Cook said police were called to Cook's home after a neighbor called to complain of yelling and screaming, and officers found a woman sitting on his living room floor, crying and bleeding from her nose as she held her head.
The woman, identified only as "Victim A," told police Cook had assaulted her and tried to strangle her because she had talked to an ex-boyfriend.
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She said he hurled her onto a bed and choked her, then when she got up struck her in the head with enough force for her to hit a wall. The woman said she fled to the living room where Cook tried to choke her again, the complaint said.
The woman later received medical care, the Star Tribune said.
Cook's attorney, David Valentini, said his client was "not happy" and "upset he's sitting" in jail.
"He's upset he missed the game. He's upset with the whole incident," Valentini said, adding "of course" when asked if Cook was remorseful.
Valentini said earlier the 6-foot-2, 212-pound Cook denied strangling the woman, the Pioneer Press said.
Cook, the Vikings' top draft choice of 2010, missed the team's home loss to Green Bay Sunday. The team's only comment so far was that it takes the matter "very seriously," the Pioneer Press said.
In March Cook was acquitted of a charge he pulled a gun on a neighbor near his mother's home in Lynchburg, Va.
