Thursday's NFL: Alvin Kamara, Chris Lammons plead not guilty in Vegas assault case

Las Vegas — New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and three other men pleaded not guilty Thursday in Nevada to charges they beat a man unconscious at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub before the NFL’s 2022 Pro Bowl.

Kamara appeared alongside Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Chris Lammons and co-defendants Darrin Young and Percy Harris in state court. They could face trial July 31, according to the schedule set by the judge.

The four are each charged with a felony and a misdemeanor for allegedly punching, kicking and stomping on Darnell Greene Jr. of Houston during an altercation outside an elevator.

“Not guilty, your honor,” said Kamara, who played in the league all-star game the day after the alleged attack. Police questioned him after the game and he was arrested Feb. 6, 2022, on suspicion of felony battery resulting in substantial bodily harm. Lammons, Young and Harris were arrested days later.

The felony battery charge could result in one to five years in state prison. Conspiracy to commit battery carries a possible misdemeanor sentence of 364 days in county jail.

Kamara’s attorneys have cast the altercation as self-defense by Kamara and criticized prosecutors for taking the case to a grand jury, where testimony was taken and evidence presented behind closed doors.

Outside the court Thursday, lawyer David Chesnoff said only that Kamara looked forward to trial “and full vindication.”

Attorneys representing Young and Harris declined to comment.

Lammons' attorney, Ross Goodman, acknowledged that Lammons struck Greene, but called it “a measured response” to being pushed or shoved in the nightclub hallway. The lawyer said Lammons, 27, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, then tried to pull the other men away.

Greene was treated for a fracture of the bones around an eye, and reported neck, back, shoulder and knee injuries, according to police and court filings in New Orleans.

“At no point during this attack did Greene hit, punch or push Kamara or any of his associates,” Las Vegas police said in an arrest report.

Police said the incident began when Kamara put his hand on Greene’s chest to stop him from entering an elevator, Greene pushed the football player’s hand away, and a person with Kamara punched Greene.

In the police report, a detective said: “When asked why Kamara punched Greene, Kamara indicated he thought Greene was running away and had done something to his group so he chased and punched Greene several times.”

Greene has a civil lawsuit pending against Kamara in a New Orleans court, seeking at least $10 million in damages.

“Mr. Greene was only trying to get on an elevator and was beaten almost to death,” Greene's attorney in Houston, Tony Buzbee, said in a email Monday. Buzbee said the civil lawsuit is on hold pending the outcome in the Las Vegas case.

Kamara, 27, is one of the top running backs in the NFL. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2017 and was selected for the Pro Bowl in his first five seasons. He finished the 2022 season with almost 1,400 rushing and passing yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns.

The Saints on Thursday said the team was closely monitoring the Las Vegas case but declined to comment further.

Lammons has played in the NFL since 2018 for the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. He was claimed off waivers in January by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment.

League officials have said the NFL won’t comment until the case is resolved.

Panthers founder, former owner Jerry Richardson dies at 86

Charlotte, N.C — Jerry Richardson, the Carolina Panthers founder and for years one of the NFL’s most influential owners until a scandal forced him to sell the team, has died. He was 86.

Richardson died peacefully Wednesday night at his Charlotte home, the team said in a statement.

Richardson became the first former NFL player to own a team since Chicago’s George Halas when he landed the expansion Panthers in 1993.

A former teammate of Johnny Unitas who caught a touchdown pass in the Baltimore Colts’ victory over the New York Giants in the 1959 NFL championship game, Richardson only spent two years in the NFL before venturing into the restaurant business. He used his championship bonus money to open the first Hardee’s in Spartanburg, South Carolina — close to where he had attended Wofford College.

He went on to make his fortune in the restaurant business, becoming chief executive officer of Flagstar, the sixth-largest food service company in the country at the time.

The Spring Hope, North Carolina, native spent years trying to persuade the NFL to put a team in the Carolinas, ultimately succeeding through a relatively original concept of funding a new stadium through the sales of permanent seat licenses.

“Jerry Richardson’s contributions to professional football in the Carolinas are historic," current Panthers owner David Tepper and his wife Nicole said in a statement. “With the arrival of the Panthers in 1995, he changed the landscape of sports in the region and gave the NFL fans here a team to call their own."

Richardson said in 2018 his greatest mission in life was bringing the NFL to the Carolinas.

The Panthers began play in 1995 and Richardson quickly built Carolina into one of the league’s model franchises, while becoming a powerful figure in the NFL. Richardson served on several high-level owners committees, playing a key role in labor negotiations with the players’ union.

But Richardson’s reputation took a tremendous hit when he announced he was selling the Panthers on Dec. 17, 2017, — the same day Sports Illustrated reported that four former Panthers employees received significant monetary settlements due to inappropriate sexually suggestive language and actions by Richardson. It was also reported he used a racial slur directed toward a team scout.

He sold the team to Tepper, a hedge fund owner, in May 2018 for a then-NFL record $2.27 billion. The following month the NFL fined Richardson $2.75 million for alleged workplace misconduct.

Richardson never addressed the allegations against him publicly.

After purchasing the Panthers, Tepper said he was “contractually obligated” to keep the statue of Richardson, flanked by two panthers, outside of the downtown Charlotte stadium that Richardson built.

But in June 2020, the Panthers removed the statue, saying they were concerned there may be attempts to take the statue down due to protests and unrest following the death of George Floyd.

The team said that “moving the statue is in the interest of public safety.” It has never returned.

Although Richardson once promised the Panthers would win a Super Bowl “within 10 years” of beginning play in 1995, they never did. The team reached the Super Bowl in the 2003 and 2015 seasons, but lost both times.

The lack of consistency was a source of irritation for Richardson, as Carolina failed to put together back-to-back winning seasons during his 23 seasons as owner despite hiring four coaches: Dom Capers, George Seifert, John Fox and Ron Rivera.

"I will always be grateful to him for the opportunity to coach the Carolina Panthers & for his patient, steadfast leadership during 7 seasons," Rivera said on social media.

Richardson was well liked by his players.

Former tight end Greg Olsen posted a four-minute video on Twitter, saying when Richardson learned his unborn son had a serious heart defect he insisted on flying his family to Boston Medical Center in his own personal jet so they could receive the best medical advice.

Olsen and his wife Kara later named the child Trent “Jerry” Olsen after Richardson.

“We got love from a man that was my employer, my boss, not a close personal friend at the time,” Olsen said. "And he went above and beyond to bring comfort to a family at its toughest time."

Quarterback Jake Delhomme, who led the Panthers to their first Super Bowl in the 2003 season, recalls getting a phone call from Richardson a couple of days after enduring he endured a disastrous four-turnover performance in a 33-13 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the 2008 playoffs.

“He calls and says, ‘Jake, the sun came out today at my house, did it come out at yours?,’” Delhomme told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I said, ‘Yes sir, it did.’ He said, ‘that’s a good thing — everything will be OK.’ And then he hung up the phone.”

When linebacker Thomas Davis retired in 2021, he thanked Richardson for believing in him and keeping him on the roster despite having suffered three torn ACLs in the same knee.

Conservative by nature, Richardson once cautioned Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton against getting tattoos and piercings after drafting the quarterback No. 1 overall in 2011 for fear it would impact his image.

He also had a policy where fans weren't allowed to remove their shirts during games.

And during Richardson's tenure as owner he always made sure the NFL logo — instead of his team's — was at midfield of Bank of America Stadium.

Richardson’s tenure was marred by off-field issues.

He fired both his sons — Mark, the team president, and Jon, the director of stadium operations — following a sibling squabble at the stadium in front of other employees while he was recovering from a heart transplant in 2009. It was expected at the time one of the boys might inherit the team, but that never happened. Jon Richardson died of cancer in 2013.

In 2000, wide receiver Rae Carruth, a former first-round draft pick, was convicted on a murder conspiracy charge in connection with the drive-by shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend. Carruth was imprisoned for 16 years.

And in 2014 star defensive end Greg Hardy was placed on a commissioner's exempt list after he was accused of allegedly throwing his girlfriend on to furniture and threatening to kill her. Prosecutors dismissed domestic violence charges against Hardy after they said the accuser in the case couldn’t be found.

Richardson is survived by his wife, Rosalind, son Mark and daughter Ashley Richardson Allen.