Information Still Being Pieced Together About Incident from Early Wednesday Morning Involving Olivera
On Tuesday evening the Atlanta Braves played the Washington Nationals, losing a tough-fought contest 2-1. The game ended at roughly 9:52pm local time. After media sessions, hitting the post-game “spread”, showers and changing, a bus would have driven the team back to their hotel – the Ritz Carlton in Arlington, VA – a distance of 4.3 miles and roughly 10 minutes from the ballpark. This could have all been done as early at 11pm, though perhaps lingering to 11:30pm.
Events from then until the initial report from the female victim are not known at this time. What we do know is that the woman called 911 at 6:51am from the hotel with the report of an “assault.” She displayed visible bruising to the police and told them that Hector Olivera was responsible. The report further indicates that the pair are known to one another, though there has been no further characterization of a relationship or even how well they are acquainted, though initial reports suggested a “domestic dispute”.
The woman was driven to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. She was treated and released by Wednesday afternoon. Arlington Police reports also suggest that alcoholic beverages were involved in the incident – for both Olivera and the woman.
Late on Wednesday, Arlington police entered a single charge of misdemeanor assault and battery against Olivera in court. He was assigned a bail of $10,000, double the ‘expected’ amount. For the record, the charge is for a physical assault only; no sexual assault is alleged. Reports indicate that he posted bond and then headed to the airport, presumably flying to his home in Miami.
While not an American citizen, Olivera – born in Santiago de Cuba – would not be subject to deportation as Cuban expatriates fleeing that nation enjoy a special protective immigration status.
Major League Baseball acted swiftly yesterday, placing Olivera on Administrative Leave, which is a paid status pending the investigation through the Commissioner’s office. The Braves then placed him on their Restricted List, allowing them to replace him with Daniel Castro. Being “restricted” would also allow Atlanta to add another player to the 40-man roster, but I would not envision that happening any time soon – certainly not prior to the end of the investigation.
Olivera can make a request to be reinstated to the roster during the investigation. Such a request would have to be made through Frederic Horowitz, baseball’s independent arbitrator.
Irrespective of the criminal court system’s findings and/or punishment, the Commissioner of Baseball has the power to investigate the incident and issue his own penalties.
(Information from multiple media sources was used for this report, including these: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Next: What next? Relevant Precedents
Baseball’s Domestic Violence Policy: Still Being Unwrapped
The policy was rolled out in August last year, and has already been pulled out for 3 other cases:
- Yasiel Puig – no discipline was issued for a fight was alleged to have been involved in at a Miami bar last November. Video evidence seems to show that the Puig was not a participant in the “massive” brawl.
- Jose Reyes – In October, Jose Reyes assaulted his wife at a Maui hotel, causing facial, neck and leg injuries. Charges have been dropped in this case due to his wife “declining to cooperate” with prosecutors. MLB penalties are still pending.
- Aroldis Chapman – this is a bit more odd. Chapman’s girlfriend claimed that he had choked and pushed her after becoming upset over something on her cellphone. Photos of her at the time do not seem to indicate any marks or bruises. Chapman denied hurting her, but is also accused of going to his garage and firing off several rounds of bullets, seemingly in anger or frustration. MLB nonetheless suspended Chapman for 30 days to begin this season.
The Legal Stuff
Misdemeanor Assault and Battery in the state of the Virginia is a Class 1 offense, and carries a maximum 1 year of jail time with $2,500 fine and victim restitution. If Olivera even ‘touched’ the woman, regardless of whether that would have caused the bruising, then this would be sufficient to bring a charge of battery.
Defenses against this would include consent and accident. The victim’s conduct is not a defense, though could be used to mitigate later penalties.
Domestic assault is a separate law, though involves a family or household member (likely not applicable here).
The Dirty Numbers Involved
Because this would be a first-time offense for Olivera, it is indeed likely that he would avoid jail time, though an MLB suspension would seem quite likely at this point. If the injuries are indeed limited to bruising, then I would hazard a guess of something in the 60-90 day range… probably a bit less than whatever Jose Reyes ends up receiving.
Olivera is under contract through the year 2020. Baseball is not likely to just void this deal, nor is Atlanta likely to release him, either. They are already paying over $34 million to players not playing for them this season (chiefly Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn).
You can argue that there is a principle here, and you would be correct. The Braves could choose to stick by those principles and oust Olivera. But as a still-productive player, he has some on-field value for his contract. This is in sharp contrast to Swisher, Bourn, and Dan Uggla from the last couple of seasons.
Olivera’s own actions from here will also go a long way in determining his future as an Atlanta Brave. While public sentiment is certainly going to be against him, if he were to “own” his failures, accept responsibility, and issue apologies, then he could put the issue behind him and choose to start the healing process with all parties concerned: the victim first if she is receptive, and then his teammates and fans.
One More Precedent
While assaults, particularly those ‘domestic’ in nature, are neither to be excused or taken lightly, many Braves’ fans have allowed at least one incident involving a team hero to be forgiven.
During their 1995 World Series Championship season, manager Bobby Cox was himself arrested for a curiously similar-sounding incident involving his wife Pamela.
Next: The Prospects are Already Prospering
Many more days will still have to advance before we see how this event plays out with Hector Olivera.