Jaguars defensive tackle Terrance Knighton has offered up an apology today, a day after he criticized Chad Johnson’s wife, Evelyn Lozada, for telling the police that Johnson head-butted her.
Following the news that the Dolphins had released Johnson as a result of his arrest for domestic violence, Knighton went on Twitter and suggested that Lozada was wrong to go to the police because a domestic violence arrest can damage an NFL player’s career.
Knighton took a lot of criticism on Twitter for that, and at first he fired back at his critics, saying that they were twisting his words, and adding that he would block them from following him on Twitter. But today, Knighton reconsidered and offered an apology.
Knighton was wrong to criticize Lozada, and right to apologize. The idea that a woman can only call the police on her husband if his abusive actions have reached the level where they’re life threatening is absurd, as is the idea that a woman who has just been battered by her husband needs to think about how his career might be affected before going to the police. A man who harms his wife deserves to suffer the consequences.