Jurors in the trial of Vikings cornerback Chris Cook heard a recording on Friday of Cook’s girlfriend telling police that he had choked her, even though she claimed on the witness stand that he hadn’t choked her.
Cook’s girlfriend, Chantel Baker, had a scraped and swollen face, a bloody nose, damage to her eardrum and red marks on her neck as she told police that Cook had choked her.
“I said, ‘You’re not supposed to do that. You’re not supposed to put your hands on a girl,’” she told police in a recording that was played for the jury, via the Star-Tribune.
However, Baker said on the witness stand that she had lied about that. Prosecutors contend she was telling the truth to the police but lying on the stand to protect Cook from the serious consequences a felony conviction would have on his NFL career.
Cook is charged with felony domestic assault by strangulation and felony third-degree assault.