Stunned Jets linebacker: Man attacked me for no reason
Jets linebacker Darron Lee was still reeling on Monday from what he describes as a bar beatdown he endured over the weekend in his home state of Ohio.
The team’s 2016 first-round draft pick streamed on Periscope, sporting a fresh bruise under his right eye — an archived version of the video has since been deleted from Twitter — to describe the moment an anonymous man allegedly jumped him as he was attempting to leave a Columbus bar Saturday night.
“Midway from the exit of the bar, I get hit and tackled simultaneously,” Lee said in the video. “Have no idea who it was. I wasn’t in an argument with anybody. I hadn’t said a word to anybody. Just leaving the bar to go home, and I get punched and tackled. I have no idea by whom. To this very moment I have no idea by whom. Don’t care.”
The 22-year-old Ohio State alum said he was on his way to catch an Uber home when the violent stranger took him by surprise, hitting him repeatedly. Lee said he sent no return-punches, only pleas of, “I didn’t hit you, I didn’t hit you.”
It wasn’t until bouncers and police intervened, he said, helping Lee outside and away from his assailant, that the fists stopped flying. Lee did not suffer any severe injuries and credited the police in a tweet — later deleted — for “sparing a young man’s life tonight.”
The speedy college standout finished his rookie NFL season with 73 tackles and one sack in 13 games (nine started).