12:45 P.M. UPDATE -- Incident report released
Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois was interviewed by police, but not charged, after a verbal altercation with his live-in girlfriend turned physical Tuesday evening, according to a Tallahassee Police Department incident report.
The report, which was released just after noon on Wednesday, states that police were called to the home by Francois after he and his girlfriend began arguing and he tried to remove her from the house, which sits less than a mile from FSU's campus.
Francois and his girlfriend provided police with very different statements regarding the incident.
The following details are from the TPD incident report:
Francois said he was relaxing at home with friend and FSU teammate Zaquandre White when his girlfriend returned home and brought up a previous argument. Francois said he asked his girlfriend to leave, at which point she became angry and began "breaking things." He said she threw a vase across the room, causing it to break as well.
Francois said he tried to pick his girlfriend up by wrapping his arms around her "like a hug" to stop her from causing damage and to remove her from the house. But he said he let her go when she started to swing at him and said she would call police to report him for domestic violence.
Francois also requested that the responding police officers take photographs of the scene and the damaged property, which they did, according to the report.
Francois' girlfriend, who is not being named by Warchant because she is an alleged victim in the case, gave an entirely different version of the events. While saying she did not want to press charges against Francois, she said the incident started when she talked to one of his friends and he told her she couldn't speak to other guys. She said Francois broke down the door to her bedroom, picked her up and threw her to the ground, causing a cut on her forearm, and also tried to remove her from the house.
She also told police that she was about nine weeks' pregnant with Francois baby and that she had told him previously about the pregnancy. The girlfriend then asked the police to take a photo of her injury, which they did.
Francois disputed his girlfriend's account about the cut and said she sustained it when she broke the vase. He also acknowledged that his girlfriend had told him she was pregnant, but added that he didn't believe her because she has lied in the past and has shown no signs of being pregnant.
The only witness to the incident was White, who backed up Francois' account of the events. White provided a written statement and said that Francois only touched his girlfriend in an attempt to stop her from breaking things and to defend himself when she swung at him.
Based on the "conflicting statements and lack of independent witnesses," the responding officers stated that there was not enough evidence to make an arrest for battery. The report states that Francois agreed to leave the house for the night and let his girlfriend stay there.
The case is being considered "open/inactive."
State attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat that his office is working with Tallahassee Police on the case.
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FIRST REPORT
Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois is being investigated by local police following an alleged domestic violence incident Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, according to a report from the Tallahassee Democrat.
The report says no arrests have been made in the case.
Francois, who was named ACC Rookie of the Year following the 2016 season, missed the final 12 games of the 2017 campaign after sustaining a knee injury in the Seminoles' season opener against Alabama.
He was expected to return to full health at some point in 2018 and compete with rising sophomore James Blackman for FSU's starting quarterback job. As a freshman in 2017, Blackman completed 58.2 percent of his passes for 2,230 yards and 19 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.
FSU's other scholarship quarterbacks are senior J.J. Cosentino and redshirt freshman Bailey Hockman. The Seminoles also are expected to sign at least one quarterback next month, although they have no players committed at that position. One target high on FSU's list is dual-threat quarterback James Foster of Montgomery, Ala.
* More on FSU's recruitment of Foster and other top offensive targets
As a redshirt freshman in 2016, Francois passed for 3,350 yards and also was the team's third-leading rusher with 198 yards despite losing 328 yards on numerous sacks and negative plays.
Francois came under scrutiny this past season for not being in attendance for the Seminoles' home game against Delaware State.
Stay connected with Warchant.com for more on this story.
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