Oklahoma RB Joe Mixon Apologizes for Punching Female Student in 2014 Incident

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Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images(NORMAN, Okla.) — Oklahoma Sooners running back Joe Mixon apologized Friday for punching a woman in an incident from 2014.

Friday was the first time since video of the incident was released last week that Mixon spoke publicly. “It’s never, never okay to retaliate and hit a woman the way I did,” he said. “I’m here to apologize to everybody that was affected.”

He apologized to the woman he punched, his coach, his teammates and his family.

The meeting with reporters follows a formal apology from Mixon last month.

The surveillance video, released last Friday, showed Mixon punching Amelia Molitor in the face. The incident left Molitor with four fractured bones in her face.

Following the incident, Mixon was suspended for the 2014 football season. After the suspension, Mixon was reinstated and will play in the team’s Sugar Bowl game against Auburn next month.

ESPN reports that Sooners coach Bob Stoops, university president David Boren and athletic director Joe Castiglione had seen the videos prior to their release. They were heavily criticized for allowing Mixon to rejoin the team.

Days after the incident, Mixon told police that he heard Molitor’s friend utter a racial slur. The running back admitted that he responded to the male friend with an anti-gay slur.

In the video, after Mixon appears to say something to Molitor’s friend, the woman pushed Mixon. Mixon lunged at her initially, at which point Molitor slapped him. Mixon responded by punching her, sending her face slamming into a table.

In 11 games this season, Mixon ran for 1,183 yards and eight touchdowns.

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