Former football star Kareem Hunt is apologizing after a surveillance video showed him shoving and kicking a 19-year-old woman in February.
The Kansas City Chiefs cut him from the team after the video, which TMZ Sports obtained, was released on Friday.
In an interview with ESPN over the weekend, Hunt expressed remorse. “Honestly I just want to let the world know how sorry I am for my actions,” he said. “It’s been a tough time for me. I’m extremely embarrassed because of that video.”
“I’m definitely not that type of person,” he insisted. “My mother raised me right. I was raised by my mom and my grandma.”
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In the video, Hunt and the woman appear to be in a heated verbal argument when he pushes her. After he pushes her, the woman slaps him in the face. Hunt attempts to lunge at the woman but is pulled away by two men.
The video then shows Hunt charging and colliding with a man who bangs into the woman. He is also seen kicking the woman in the leg before another woman pulls him away.
Police responded to the incident at The Metropolitan at the 9 around 4:17 a.m. local time on February 10 but no arrests were made. Cleveland Police Department Sergeant Jennifer Ciaccia said the case was not considered a felony.
“That’s not me. I was raised better than that,” Hunt told ESPN. “I’m not the type of person to ever even think about putting my hands on anyone. A woman, a girl. It doesn’t matter.”
Hunt claimed that he and the woman — who had “never met … before besides that one time” — had a “disagreement” before the incident.
“It was just a long night,” he said. “I was in the wrong. I could have took responsibility and made the right decision to find a way to de-escalate the whole situation.”
“That person in that video did not deserve that,” Hunt continued. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. … It’s tough because feel like I let a lot of people down. I just really want to apologize to everybody.”
“Earlier this year, we were made aware of an incident involving running back Kareem Hunt,” the Chiefs said in a statement on Friday. “At that time, the National Football League and law enforcement initiated investigations into the issue.”
“As part of our internal discussions with Kareem, several members of our management team spoke directly to him. Kareem was not truthful in those discussions. The video released today confirms that fact. We are releasing Kareem immediately,” the Chiefs’ statement concluded.
On Friday, the NFL said in a statement that the organization had put Hunt on the Commissioner Exempt list, meaning that “he may not practice, play or attend games.”
Over the weekend, the NFL released an additional statement. “The NFL’s investigation began immediately following the incident in February,” the statement said on Sunday. “Consistent with standard investigatory practices, the NFL continues to pursue a complete understanding of the facts. The NFL’s ongoing investigation will include further attempts to speak to the complainants involved in the incident.”
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“It will include a review of the new information that was made public on Friday — which was not available to the NFL previously — as well as further conversations with all parties involved in the incident,” the statement continued.
Hunt told ESPN that the NFL had not questioned him. He acknowledged that, when the Chiefs did, he “didn’t tell them everything.”
“I don’t blame them for anything,” he said of the Chiefs. “My actions caused this. … The Chiefs, they did what was right. I made a poor decision, and I’m willing to take full responsibility of any actions that come from this point on.”
On Sunday, the Chiefs won against the Oakland Raiders. Head coach Andy Reid said in a post-game press conference, according to a transcript provided to PEOPLE by a Chiefs rep, that he thought his players “did a great job, the locker room in particular” in light of the news.
“You’ve got to bank on the strength of your locker room and those veteran players and really some of the young players too,” he said. “Some from his class … I thought really stepped up and kept things positive within the game.”
As for “their feelings for Kareem” and the task at hand, Reid said that “they separated those two things.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said at the press conference that the team was able to block out the distraction in order to best the Raiders.
“The mindset of this team is whenever you get your opportunity, you make the most of it,” Mahomes said. “We kept our mind on that and playing football, the game we have loved since we were little kids to keep this season going.”
According to a police report obtained by PEOPLE, the woman told police that she was asked to leave Hunt’s room because one of the men got mad because she “didn’t want him,” the police report states.
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She also alleged that while she and her friend, both Kent State University students, were sitting outside Hunt’s room, he came outside and “shoved and pushed” her.
Hunt told police that he asked the women to leave when he discovered they were teenagers. He said he went to bed and after a while heard them still out in the hallway. He told someone to call security and have them removed, the report states.
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