When Titans wide receiver Justin Hunter turned himself into police Monday after they issued an arrest warrant on assault charges last Friday, one of the questions that followed was whether he’d follow in the footsteps of players in legal trouble last year and be put on paid leave while the case is resolved.
The Titans reportedly don’t think that’s the direction that things will go. Ed Werder of ESPN reports that the team expects to have Hunter at training camp when it opens at the end of the month and Hunter’s attorney told the Tennessean the same thing. Per Werder, the Titans plan to let the legal process play out rather than take any action against Hunter at this point.
The revised Personal Conduct Policy allows for putting a player on paid leave if a player is charged with a violent crime or if an NFL investigation finds evidence that a violation of the policy has occurred.
Hunter was released on $25,000 bond Tuesday after being formally charged with malicious wounding, which carries a possible sentence of 5-20 years in jail. Prosecutors allege that Hunter started a fight in a Virginia Beach bar on July 3 by punching a man in the face twice, touching off a larger fight, and that he then hit the man a third time on the street after the bar was cleared. The alleged victim suffered a broken jaw and cracked tooth.