University of Texas basketball head coach Chris Beard has been suspended indefinitely without pay following an arrest for felony domestic violence on Monday.
“The University takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously,” the school said upon announcing Beard’s suspension, reported The Washington Post.
“Given the information available, The University has suspended Chris Beard from his position as head coach of Men’s Basketball and will withhold his pay until further notice.”
Beard was charged with a third-degree felony of assault on a family member Monday by the City of Austin Police Department, PEOPLE has confirmed.
The 49-year-old Texas Longhorns coach, who is in his second season with the team, was arrested at 12:15 a.m. in Austin after his fiancée told officers that he tried to choke her.
“He just snapped on me and became super violent,” she alleged, according to an affidavit from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. “[Beard] choked me, threw me off the bed, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around, and going nuts.”
Beard also allegedly put his arm around her neck, according to the affidavit.
“Yes, I could not breathe, he did it for probably like five seconds,” she said in the affidavit.
The couple “had been upset with each other for a couple of days regarding relationship issues,” the woman told authorities, who arrived at the residence in West Austin after a 911 call came from the home.
She added that the alleged incident occurred after she broke Beard’s reading glasses because he was twirling them while he sat upright in bed. According to the affidavit, she offered to bring Beard a new pair 10-15 minutes later but he slapped her own glasses off her face and proceeded to choke her.
When asked why he stopped choking her, the alleged victim said, “I don’t know, he just let go.”
Despite this, she suffered a bite mark on her right arm, an abrasion to her right eyebrow, a scrape on her left leg from her knee to her foot, a cut to her left thumb with dried blood, and scratches on her back and right eye, she stated in the affidavit.
