Former Washing Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien pleaded “not guilty” to domestic violence charges.
The former pro was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence after he and his wife, Danielle Rypien, were seen in an altercation in Washington. Police responded to an intersection in Spokane and when they arrived the former Super Bowl MVP was standing next to his car while his wife was lying in the grass nearby.
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Rypien was charged with one count of fourth-degree assault — a misdemeanor for first-time offenders — but plead not guilty to the charge in an initial appearance the Monday during fourth of July week.
Officers spoke to both of them for about 45 minutes each, then Rypien was arrested around 6 p.m. and booked into Spokane County Jail.
According to USA TODAY Sports, Terry Preuninger, the police spokesman stated in an email that Rypien was cooperative with police the day of his arrest.
“Mark Rypien was cooperative with police during the investigation and arrest,” he wrote.
The couple shared a joint statement agreeing that a crime was not committed, stating, “(Mark) did not commit any crime.”
“As a family we are deeply concerned about the situation. Occurrences like this one are often chaotic scenes which are not conducive to revealing full clarity about what actually transpires,” the statement continued.
The Washington state law demands that officers make an arrest when they respond to a domestic violence call, if they believe they have probable cause that something along that line actually occurred.
Rypien played for the Redskins from 1988 to 1993, but was a part of the league until 2002 and became the MVP of Super Bowl XXVI after leading the Redskins to the title in 1992.
Since then, the former NFL player has been open with his personal struggles since retiring from the league. He’s talked about his fight with depression in recent years as well.
In an interview with The Spokesman-Review in 2018, he admitted attempting suicide and battled with those thoughts. His wife believes he is suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a neurodegenerative brain disease that has been diagnosed posthumously in former NFL players.
The 56-year-old also admitted he and his wife were previously involved in a domestic violence incident during 2017, but Danielle blamed his at-the-time medication and revealed that she was arrested even though he was the primary aggressor.
“I had some bruises. I wasn’t black-and-blue,” she said. “And I don’t regret it, per se, but I did not tell the police what happened. I didn’t see any good coming from that.”
The charges against her were later dropped.
