Getty ImagesThe assault trial of Vikings cornerback Chris Cook has begun, and Cook is claiming that he was defending himself in a confrontation with his then-girlfriend in October.
Cook’s lawyer, David Valentini, described Cook’s actions as reasonable acts of self defense, and says that the injuries his accuser suffered are the result of her attacking a professional football player.
“He gets to defend himself,” Valentini told the jury, according to the Pioneer Press. “Mr. Cook is blessed with fast reflexes and strength. It’s his job. There are no weaklings in the NFL, ladies and gentlemen. He reacts – defensively, instinctively — after he gets assaulted from behind.”
But prosecutors say Cook attacked his girlfriend when he discovered she had been talking to an ex-boyfriend. According to her medical records she suffered a perforated eardrum and lost part of her hearing.
Cook is accused of felony counts of domestic assault by strangulation and third-degree assault.
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Sounds like an uphill battle for Cook.
Dude put hands on a woman…the lowest type of person. IMO “Self defense?” Pfffft!
“There are no weaklings in the NFL, ladies and gentlemen”
There may be no weaklings, but there are definitely cowards. See Chris Cook, Saints entire team
”after he gets assaulted from behind.” That’s just f’n hilarious. I’m sure there was an awkward pause after that statement.
Loss of hearing huh. Guess she learned her lesson.
Should read “Chris Cook commits self assault at defense trial.”. What a dope.
Even if it was “self-defense” its not going to fly.
People don’t understand a lot of young black couples relationships nowadays.
Black women have gotten a little more brash these days. So the old “don’t put your hands on a woman” won’t normally apply. If a woman comes at you, you need to defend yourself. I’m not saying go Chris Brown on her, but it ain’t as easy as walking away any more. Ask Brandon Marshall.
being a Vikings fan, i am sincerely hoping that the Vikings part ways with this turd. He is a black eye for the organization and must go. i dont care how much potential he has on the field, if he is found guilty of this crime, he has got to go. Vikes can get better without him anyway through the draft and free agency
ninefingers9 says: Mar 7, 2012 5:15 PM
Dude put hands on a woman…the lowest type of person. IMO “Self defense?” Pfffft!
EH, women that put hands on a man have no business whining about being a woman. having said that, that is the only reason a man has a right IMO to put hands on a woman. I don’t believe a physically gifted NFL player would bust her ear drum up through simple self defense methods while defending himself from a woman. Unless his girlfriend is Awesome Kong then I say “GUILTY!!!”
She was mocking him about the 10 he got on his Wonderlic test.
Lets say she had a knife, lets say she even stabbed him in the arm or leg a little, lets say she was screaming she is going to kill him.
At what point does this NFL Football Player have his smaller (I’m guessing light weight) opponent in submission? He is a man. She is a woman. Did he suffer injuries? Yes he needs to be injured AND fear for his safety or his life, considering specifically the defense’s justification of the massive injuries (and countless hits) is that he is a football player, to beat any woman that bad. Maybe she was huge and scary, maybe she was stronger than him. There is no mention of him suffering an injury from what I read.
He Strangled Her. After Beating Her. Probably Continued To Beat Her After Strangling Her.
Sorry dude… I don’t have your back, but you can clearly see mine.
Is Chris Cook gonna have to slap a ho?
duh!! i wus jus trian to protekt meeself, man!!
there is only 1 bigger bastard out there and that is the one that hurts kids…just go to prison and justice will take care of itself from the inside (oh, good pun!)
“Sounds good enough for me! Let’s get him back on the field” says the Vikings secondary fan club.
In other news: Leslie Frazer hasnt mumbled a word since the season ended.
Its rumored that he isnt sure if he has permission to speak if in fact he wanted to.
Be a man.
Wanna know some self defense when it comes to women?
Walk away.
If it really is that bad of an attack from said woman…
Run away.
Never, I mean never, NEVER PUT YOUR HANDS ON A WOMAN.
C’mon, don’t you have a mother? Everyone had/has one. Would you condone another man laying his hands on her? Thought not.
Any man that assaults or abuses a woman, no matter what the circumstances, should be castrated. Period.
Weaklings? It takes a strong man to love.
Let the trial run its course. The girl probably attacked him and he has the right to protect himself. If he attacked he shed be in worse shape.
The problem with girls these days is they think we can’t hit them. So they attack us and we are supposed to sit there and wear it. Not true. I’m not saying hit a lady. But stopping an attack may cause some harm on her.
Hopefully this is the case and we can stop another ex from trying to get paid for being a dumbass. But if he struck her first hope he gets what he deserves.
I have to say, the opening statement from Chris Cook sounded a bit weird and dishonest. The only way (and I mean the ONLY way) Cook will be able to be exonerated will be for he and the victim to be convincing that he, in fact, did not assault her.
I don’t see this trial going well for Cook. But then again, Perrish Cox was found not guilty of sexual assault, so anything is possible.
Uphill battle I thought that about Cox the Denver Player accused and just recently Acquitted of rape.
I thought at one time I had read a while back that she the girl changed her story. She did she recanted her story and said she was sorry that she told police that I just read it.
This comes from a packer fan.
The Pioneer Press said jurors will likely hear Chantel Baker’s recanting her statements that the 6-foot-2, 212-pound Cook, now 25, had choked her.
Hire Perrish Cox’s lawyer.
Tip of the day.
So many people willing to judge someone they don’t know without knowing all the facts.
She recanted her story within a week of the arrest and said she lied about it to the cops because she was pissed off at him.
She pulled some of his hair out in the back of his head? IMHFO this is gonna come down to he said/she said with her telling the jury she lied to the cops and it will only be the cops impression vs their testimony and just how do you think this is gonna play out?
Not guilty, case closed. What a bunch of dip-sticks around here.
In a Pioneer Press article it was also said that Chris Cook pleaded with Baker, while he was in jail, to drop the charges because of how they would effect him. Baker had overlapping finger prints suggesting that she was strangled multiple times. The finger prints where Cook’s. Please read the information that is out there before you defend this piece of garbage. He also made weekly trips to a local smoke shop to buy all the synthetic weed he could get.
EJ…….. You are SPOT ON!!!!!!
If she’s psycho and chasing you with a knife, guess what…. Your an NFL athlete… you should be able to run faster than her! Run away, call the cops… NO ISSUES!
Some people really do have some anger management issues…. And it makes you wonder, if they strike a woman, do they have the patience enough to have a real relationship? To have a family? To have children? Gosh, you get upset over small things, poor kids ever mistake poops for toots and i’d hate to see his reaction to that!
I’m not defending anyone it is to my benefit as a packer fan to have cook go to jail as he was there best defender last year.
What I was pointing out and what your talking about him pleading with her goes to the heart of the matter and only complicates the Jury that can not simply tell who is telling the truth..
If she goes with her story when she takes that stand and tells the jury he did not choke her and that she started this fight whats the jury to believe now? That’s my point………………
self defense is one thing i can subdue a woman and I am paralyzed and in a wheelchair you grab there arms and wrap them up pinning them maybe even taking them to the ground if needed not punch them in the head and strangling them
Did Chris Cook’s attorney forget to mention that his client was strangling the poor girl in “self defense”?????
Strangled so hard that blood vessels in her eyes ruptured????
It is players like Cook that has the citizens of Minnesota against a stadium. They connect building a stadium with condoning the Vikings importing criminals to the state.
Chris Cook brandishing a weapon arrest
Benny Sapp arrested for assault at a hospital
Rhett Bomar DWI endangering the public
AdrianPeterson driving over 100 mph on the winter roads in Minnesota.
Bernard Berrian’s driving over 100 mph
Everson Griffen for felony battery
Cedric Griffen’s DUI
Whizzenator
Koren Robinson’s high speed DWI chase
Everson Griffen for public intoxication
Tyrell Johnson’s impaired driving arrest
Williams violation of the NFL’s steroid policy
Ray Edwards caught red handed using steroids
Erin Henderson’s steroid violation
Darrion Scott holding a plastic bag over his girlfriend’s child and burning the child’s ears with a cigarette lighter.
Lake Minnetonka Criminal Cruise
Bryant McKinnie’s multiple arrests
Randy Moss driving into a law enforcement officer
Nobody wants to cheer and reward criminals.
Minnesota’s female vote is very much against the vikings on any stadium vote.
After this is done with, there are few Packer fans who I’d like to introduce Chris Cook to….
When will people ever look at other side of the story.
There’s two sides. The media won’t tell you that.
Don’t be surprised if he’s not guilty.
birdobeamen says: Mar 7, 2012 5:44 PM
Is Chris Cook gonna have to slap a ho?
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Wrong…you got it ALL wrong. It goes, “Is Chris Cook gonna have to choke a b1tch? – (Courtesy of the Dave Chappelle Show…because I’m sure that in part or as a whole, that line may be copywritten and I don’t want to be sued by Dave Chappelle OR have Wayne Brady choke me or at worse, do a drive by on me outside the night club)
LOL
Before the incident, his attorneys said Cook planned a special weekend for his girlfriend, Chantel Baker, who flew in for the weekend from Virginia. He sent her to the Mall of America in a limo, took her to a nice restaurant, had a few shots and then took her to a local strip club.
While at the club, Cook allegedly bought lap dances for everyone who was with him, including Baker. Sometime after that, Baker became upset with Cook.
The couple returned to Cook’s home, where the fighting continued, according to his lawyers.
This is complimensts off the WCCO website. I love how he had a special weekend planned, and it included a strip joint!! As a Vikes fan….LET HIM GO!!
bearsrulepackdrool says:
Mar 7, 2012 5:29 PM
Even if it was “self-defense” its not going to fly.
People don’t understand a lot of young black couples relationships nowadays.
Black women have gotten a little more brash these days. So the old “don’t put your hands on a woman” won’t normally apply. If a woman comes at you, you need to defend yourself. I’m not saying go Chris Brown on her, but it ain’t as easy as walking away any more. Ask Brandon Marshall.
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Wait… are you trying to say that there are professional athletes who actually date black women?!? :p
Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Do I think he choked her? Yes. Yes I do. But, she took the stand today and said she was at fault. She said she threw two lamps at Cook, and attacked him from behind, at which point he swung at her, hitting her in the ear and knocking her into a wall. She stated under oath that the marks on her neck were from a hickey from Cook.
Not sure about the “fingerprints” you all keep talking about. I’m assuming you mean bruise marks on her neck in the shape of a human hand or human fingers, as I highly doubt police officers dusted her neck and lifted Chris Cooks fingerprints from said neck.
She testified that she lied to the Police because she wanted Cook to go to jail and now feels guilty because she started the entire fight. Is she lying now, or was she lying then? I don’t know. That is called reasonable doubt. Frankly, I’m surprised the DA would go to trial with the victim recanting her story. There is a huge difference between what “we know”, and what the prosecutor can prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, especially when the only people stating he is guilty were not there.
They grow the girlies burly up there in Minnesota way.
For the guys saying they would never lay a hand on a woman are the same guys who would get their asses kicked by the fat girl in the bar.
I am not saying you should ever lay your hands on a girl, but never say never…
all this said, Cook is a POS
dd393 says:
Mar 7, 2012 8:16 PM
They grow the girlies burly up there in Minnesota way.
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Nice attempt at sarcasm… HAHAH CLOWN!
@BOBNELSONJR
AdrianPeterson driving over 100 mph on the winter roads in Minnesota.
——————————————
——————————————
HAHA.
it was a sunny day, who cares, everyone speeds and those who don’t, should… Pffft LOL, CLOWN.
bobnelsonjr says:
Mar 7, 2012 6:48 PM
Did Chris Cook’s attorney forget to mention that his client was strangling the poor girl in “self defense”?????
Strangled so hard that blood vessels in her eyes ruptured????
It is players like Cook that has the citizens of Minnesota against a stadium. They connect building a stadium with condoning the Vikings importing criminals to the state.
Chris Cook brandishing a weapon arrest
Benny Sapp arrested for assault at a hospital
Rhett Bomar DWI endangering the public
AdrianPeterson driving over 100 mph on the winter roads in Minnesota.
Bernard Berrian’s driving over 100 mph
Everson Griffen for felony battery
Cedric Griffen’s DUI
Whizzenator
Koren Robinson’s high speed DWI chase
Everson Griffen for public intoxication
Tyrell Johnson’s impaired driving arrest
Williams violation of the NFL’s steroid policy
Ray Edwards caught red handed using steroids
Erin Henderson’s steroid violation
Darrion Scott holding a plastic bag over his girlfriend’s child and burning the child’s ears with a cigarette lighter.
Lake Minnetonka Criminal Cruise
Bryant McKinnie’s multiple arrests
Randy Moss driving into a law enforcement officer
Nobody wants to cheer and reward criminals.
Minnesota’s female vote is very much against the vikings on any stadium vote.
—————-
OK, I will play…
bobnelsonjr says:
Mar 7, 2012 6:48 PM
Did Chris Cook’s attorney forget to mention that his client was strangling the poor girl in “self defense”????? (SHE CHANGED HER STORY A FEW TIMES SO NOW ITS HE SAID SHE SAID)
Strangled so hard that blood vessels in her eyes ruptured???? (NOW YOURE A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR?)
It is players like Cook that has the citizens of Minnesota against a stadium. They connect building a stadium with condoning the Vikings importing criminals to the state. (WRONG, I DONT REMEMBER READING AN ARTICLE AS TO WHY THE CITIZENS ARENT…WAIT, OH YES, THE LEGISLATORS, NOT CITIZENS, BIG DIFFERENCE).
Chris Cook brandishing a weapon arrest
Benny Sapp arrested for assault at a hospital (YADA YADA YADA…SO AHMAN GREEN, MARK CHMURA, MR UNDERWOOD, AND MR WALDEN AND OTHERS DONT TICKLE YOUR CRIME FANCY EITHER? HOWS THE POOR GUY WITH THE PURPLE DRANK DOING DOWN IN TEXAS?)
Nobody wants to cheer and reward criminals.
Minnesota’s female vote is very much against the vikings on any stadium vote. (SO NOW ITS THE FEMALE VOTE? WAIT, I THOUGHT IT WAS LEGISLATORS? MAKE UP YOUR MIND, WHICH IS IT?)
Bobby, I’m writing A List of Paul Hornung’s exploits. It is 29 pages long, single spaced. What font do you use? Your style is always so catchy.
This might not be true but I can believe it. That whole “never hit a girl no matter what” thing has pretty much given women a pair of balls they wouldn’t normally have.. I’ve seen it myself where a woman starts swinging on a man because she knows he can’t hit her back. I’m all for equal treatment on this subject. If the female initiates the violence then she gives up her right to not get hit.
his goose is cooked!!!
I’m a huge Lions fan but I’d have to say that Jason Hansen looks like kind of a weakling to me
I think he would stand a much better chance of getting off if he throws the judge a mean mug with an angry sneer…he’ll be sure to get his way.
SMH at all the comments about women everywhere beating the hell out of guys these days because guys aren’t supposed to fight back. Volunteer for one night at a refuge house for battered women and you’ll get an accurate idea of the “free pass” women are getting these days from all the sensitive guys. If a real man can’t get away from a woman who’s slapping at him or can’t just absorb a few weak hits, he grabs her wrists and holds on until her anger passes – which usually takes ten seconds or less. Slugging or choking a woman is the act of a monster, not a man.