Tennessee wide receiver Josh Smith was arrested last night for domestic assault of his roommate.
Per Hyams, a local radio reporter, Smith and the roommate have long been friends and the two share a house off-campus. He also reported that Smith has cooperated with officials so far.
Tennessee laws categorize assault between “adults or minors who live together or who have lived together” as domestic assault, just as assault on a “person who currently resides or in the past has resided with that person as if a family.” Domestic assault is a misdemeanor charge. Smith will be a redshirt senior this year.
Update (2:40 p.m.): The Knoxville News Sentinel has obtained the corresponding police report. According to the report, Smith and his roommate, Kennedy Foster, had been drinking at home before Foster went into his bedroom and locked the door during a coughing fit. Smith kicked in the door “to check on him” before allegedly pushing and hitting him, resulting in severe facial injuries for Foster.
Smith claimed that Foster tackled him when he kicked down the door. He also claimed that he did not do anything to cause Foster’s facial injuries in the initial fight, but that he interfered with a later altercation between Foster and a third roommate and may have caused the injuries there by kicking Foster in the face during that intervention.