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Former NFL Player Back In Legal Trouble

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By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 19, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Onetime NFL linebacker Darren Hambrick is in legal hot water again just weeks after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery charges in a deal that included anger management classes.

This time Hambrick, whose legal name is Darren Dewayne Grant, is accused of hitting and choking a longtime girlfriend, causing bruises and scratches, according to a Pasco County arrest affidavit.

He was being held Monday without bail at the Land O' Lakes Jail on a felony battery charge.

Pasco deputies arrested Hambrick, 32, of Lacoochee, on Sunday morning at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, but the incident took place elsewhere, the report said.

When Hambrick arrived shortly after midnight at the 35-year-old woman's home in Dade City near St. Leo, he ordered her to stop reading the Bible and became aggressive, she is said to have told deputies.

The girlfriend, whose name wasn't released, tried to leave for the night without Hambrick noticing, but he stopped her, removed the keys from her car and threw them at her, a report states.

He chased her back inside and reportedly tried to have sex with her, throwing her down on the couch, but she told him that wasn't going to happen, a report said.

He pulled her into the bedroom by the arms, threw her on the bed and again tried to force himself on her, grabbing her by the neck and choking her, a report states. Hambrick, 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, released her neck and punched her hips and legs, according to the report.

His girlfriend kicked, trying to fend him off, and then her knee "popped," the report states. That's when he took her to the hospital.

Hambrick told deputies the injuries were from rough sex and that the two argued the day before. They made up later but she played hard to get, insisting he force himself on her, according to a report.

"He stated the woman enjoyed having her hair pulled and neck strangled, as well as rough intercourse likely to cause bruises," a deputy wrote in his report.

Hambrick told the deputy he was uncomfortable revealing details about their sex life.

The Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office is scheduled to review the case March 6.

If the new charge sticks, it likely will affect the terms of a previous plea agreement in an unrelated case.

On Jan. 14, Hambrick pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors stemming from an altercation at a Trilacoochee nightclub formerly known as Rumors.

He was accused of hitting two men during a disagreement outside. Investigators said Hambrick pushed a bouncer into a table and punched the other man.

The plea agreement called for the judge to withhold a formal finding of guilt, for Hambrick to be on probation for six months and spend 13 weeks in anger management classes, and to pay $190 in court costs and restitution.

It wasn't clear Monday whether Hambrick had started those classes. His attorney, Aldo Ojeda, couldn't be reached for comment.

Hambrick was a Pasco High School football star who played five seasons total for the Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns before his NFL career ended in 2002. The Arena Football League's Tampa Bay Storm signed him in May but released him a few weeks later. Hambrick now works in the trucking industry.

His brother, Troy, also was in the NFL and is facing his own legal troubles. In December, he was indicted in U.S. District Court in Tampa, accused of selling or distributing crack cocaine.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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