The National Football League has suspended Saints running back Alvin Kamara for the first three games of the 2023 season for his role in a nightclub brawl in 2022.
The ruling comes down nearly a month after Kamara pleaded “no contest” to the charges and only hours after he issued a public apology for causing “embarrassment” to his team, the league, and his family.
“It’s a tough ordeal to be in,” Kamara told reporters. “I never wanna be involved in something where someone gets hurt or severely injured or anything. Poor judgment on my end. Definitely a bad decision. But I’m a man. Everything I’ve ever done in my life, I’ve stood on and I can take accountability for and I can say when I’m wrong. And I was completely wrong. I embarrassed the Saints, embarrassed my family, my mother, embarrassed myself, embarrassed the city and … obviously embarrassed the NFL.”
Running back Alvin Kamara #41 of the New Orleans Saints on the sidelines during the NFL game at State Farm Stadium on October 20, 2022, in Glendale, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Kamara, another NFL player, Cincinnati’s Chris Lammons, and two other men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit battery and battery resulting in substantial bodily harm. The four were accused of viciously beating a man outside a Las Vegas hotel elevator after an argument between Kamara and the victim turned violent.
The victim, Darnell Greene, claims he was waiting outside the elevator door at Drai’s Nightclub alongside Kamara and the other three suspects. When the elevator door opened, Greene claimed that Kamara placed his hand on his chest to prevent him from getting in. Greene then reportedly pushed Kamara’s hand away, which prompted the Saints running back to shove him. Then, allegedly, Lammons punched Greene and knocked him backward.
Police released clear video of the incident that appears to show Greene under vicious attack from Kamara and his entourage.
#BREAKING: Video evidence in the battery case involving New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Chris Lammons and two others includes this surveillance of a brawl in a hallway outside of a Las Vegas nightclub. More: https://t.co/bf4oXYSn4U pic.twitter.com/lONPPGNpri
— David Charns (@davidcharns) February 22, 2023
Lammons was also suspended three games for his role in the incident.
“I know what I did, I know what I was involved in,” Kamara said via CBS Sports. “From here, I just gotta make the right decisions and make the right. … I’d be lying if (I said) it hasn’t affected me. It affected me every day. I lost monetary (value), I lost some friends, I lost some support from some people. But I’ve had a ton of support from this organization, and the people that know me and know what I’m about. I’m not glossing over the situation and downplaying it in any way. I gotta take ownership of it. … It (was) self-inflicted, but it’s still a dark cloud. I felt better (returning to work now), like a weight (is) off me.”
Kamara has rushed for 5,135 yards and 49 touchdowns in his six-year career.