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BREAKING: Four Mountan Hawk Players Suspended Indefinitely for Off-Campus Altercation

At noon today, head coach Andy Coen announced that:







From the Bethlehem Police Blotter last night:

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT: 22 year old male assaulted outside Leon's Bar. One male from the victim's party was cited for Disorderly Conduct and Public Drunkenness for starting the fight.  One actor was apprehended and charged with Aggravated Assault for kicking the victim while he was on the ground and causing facial fractures; this male was committed to Northampton County on 10% of $75,000 bail. Possible charges for a second actor are pending a photo lineup identification by a witness.
Pending resolution of this matter, the name on the report was sophomore DB Russhon Phillips, who was listed as a backup cornerback on last week's 2 deep.

More news as I get more information.

More from Mike LoRe of the Express-Times:



More from Mike LoRe:

"There was an incident last night and the details are still being investigated," Coen said. "I have learned enough from our guys to make a decision they'll be suspended from the team immediately. Team suspension is a serious matter and I want to deal with these guys in a manner consistent with our program. I have now done that and I turn my attention to assuring all the team members learn from this incident and that the individuals involved have the appropriate support to confront and deal with their responsibility associated with their behavior. 
"This is the first time I've had to deal with anything like this in eight years (at Lehigh), so I'm obviously not very happy. We speak to our players often about accountability and they're accountable for the decisions they make. Obviously these guys made poor decisions and we're going to hold them accountable from our standpoint."

Morning Call's version of the statement:

 “The details are still being investigated so it’s not really appropriate for me to comment much further. However, I have learned enough from our guys to make a decisions that they will be suspended from our team immediately. A team suspension is a serious manner. I want to deal with these guys in a manner that’s consistent with our program. And our program’s expectations remain at a high standard. 
“I have done that and now turn my attention to make sure that all team members learn from this incident and that the individuals involved have appropriate support to confront and deal with their responsible associated with their behavior.” 
“This is the first time I have had to deal with this sort of incident in eight years. Obviously I’m not very happy. We talk to our players all the time that they’re accountable for decisons they make. Obviously they’ve made poor a decision and we’re going to hold them accountable.

More details from the Morning Call:

Around 12:45 a.m., police were called to an assault outside Leon's Bar at 432 E. 5th St. Police said the witnesses include a bar employee, several other university students and two Bethlehem police officers.

More:

Lehigh University spokesman Jordan Reese said Wednesday that officials were looking at the incident to determine if any of the students violated the university's code of conduct. He said it was "too early in the process" to speculate as to what student codes of conduct may have been violated. 
Reese said the university code of conduct does deal specifically with alcohol-related incidents, but could not offer any specific examples detailed in the code. 
"It always has and following the code of conduct is expected of all our students, whether they are athletes, poets or physicists," Reese said in an email.
Police said the fight began over an "exchange of words" that then escalated into a physical fight, said Bethlehem police Sgt. Robert Urban. 
Court records did not state specifics about what led to the assault.

More:

Police took Phillips, a sophomore from Plymouth Meeting, Pa., into custody. Lehigh students Alex Levine and Kenneth Bailey, no ages or addresses given, identified Phillips as the assailant, court papers say. They said they saw Phillips kick Graham several times while Graham was lying on the asphalt, court papers say. 
Police said Phillips, who went to Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, didn't start the fight.
Phillips was arraigned about 5:30 this morning in front of on-call District Judge Jacqueline Taschner and sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of 10 percent of $75,000 bail. He remained in jail this afternoon.
Brown and White Update:

At approximately 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, the following statement was issued by Lehigh University vice provost for student affairs John Smeaton:
"Dear students,
"There has been an off-campus incident involving Lehigh students. According to the police report, a verbal altercation escalated into violence. One student has been hospitalized with serious injuries and another has been charged with aggravated assault. 
"The law enforcement community is investigating what happened, and we need to respect the legal process and the rights of the individuals involved. But no matter what happened or why, we do not tolerate violence at Lehigh. Two students are experiencing different, though extremely serious consequences. If any students are found to have violated our University Code of Conduct, we will take appropriate action. 
"Lehigh is an academic community where respect for self and others is a fundamental expectation. I would ask all of us to think about what we can do to promote self-respect and civility on our campus and beyond."

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