LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Cincinnati Bengals cornerback charged for his alleged role in a beating outside of a Las Vegas nightclub last year filed court documents Wednesday saying prosecutors have not proven the charges against him.
Chris Lammons, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, and two other men, face charges of battery resulting in substantial bodily harm and conspiracy to commit battery for the incident outside Drai’s After Hours on Feb. 5, 2022. Lammons played for the Kansas City Chiefs at the time.
The beating victim, Darnell Greene, told Las Vegas Metro police that he was waiting outside an elevator at Drai’s After Hours nightclub alongside a group of people, including the four suspects. The nightclub is in the basement of the Cromwell on the Las Vegas Strip.
In court documents, Ross Goodman, Lammons’ attorney, said his client neither conspired with his co-defendants nor substantially harmed Greene.
A grand jury indicted the group on the two charges in February. All four men pleaded not guilty in court earlier this month. A judge scheduled a trial for July 31.
In documents, Kamara’s attorneys filed this week and in the filing from Goodman allege Greene touched a woman’s hand before the beating.
“Later in the evening, as [Lammons] was leaving the Cromwell, Mr. Greene walked through the group aggressively grabbing a woman’s hand accompanied by words directed at her,” Goodman wrote in court documents. “She escaped Mr. Greene’s clutch while words were being exchanged. At this point, in an act of further protection of the female who had been accosted by Mr. Greene, Mr. Kamara held Mr. Greene back from entering the elevator.”
Kamara’s attorneys filed a similar statement earlier this week, referring to the “unwanted physical touching” as a “battery.” When the elevator doors opened, Kamara put his hand on Greene’s chest to stop him from entering the elevator, police said.
Video the 8 News Now Investigators obtained of the incident shows Lammons slapping Greene and then pulling another man off him, Goodman said.
“This act was not pre-planned and deemed an exercise of reasonable force in the defense of himself and others,” Goodman wrote in court documents. “A fight ensued with others down the hallway where [Lammons] further reacts with one kick prior to de-escalating the fight by pulling people away from Mr. Greene.”
“If anyone was defending themselves it was Chris,” Goodman told the 8 News Now Investigators after the March 2 hearing. “His natural reaction was to, with an open hand, slap that individual. It was a measured response.”
“There is no evidence [Lammons] committed any act resulting in substantial bodily harm to Mr. Greene or is responsible for substantial bodily harm allegedly inflicted by others under a theory of conspiratorial or accomplice liability,” Goodman wrote in court documents.
A hearing on Lammons’ petition was scheduled for April 6. A hearing on Kamara’s petition was scheduled for April 4.
Greene has filed a civil lawsuit against Kamara in Louisiana, asking for $10 million in damages. He suffered an orbital fracture and other injuries, which caused him to have shoulder surgery.
An attorney for Greene did not immediately return a request for comment.
The NFL has declined to comment, pending the league’s investigation.