By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — East Carolina running back Jonathan Williams’ legal problems continue.
On Tuesday, hours after news broke about Williams being arrested on Oct. 5 for resisting a police officer, the ECU running back was back in the custody of Greenville police, this time facing two charges for assault with a deadly weapon.
Police allege that on Sunday, the Pirates’ leading rusher was involved in an assault at house party in Greenville. It is alleged that Williams used a beer bottle to strike a male victim in the back of the head, and also struck a female victim in the arm with a beer bottle.
He turned himself into Greenville police on Tuesday evening, and was released on a $2,500 unsecured bond. He faces a November 19 court date for his latest arrest.
ECU coach Skip Holtz didn’t become aware of Williams’ Oct. 5 until Tuesday. Williams was not at practice the last two days and Holtz would only release the following statement.
"We have just been made aware of the situation and we are certainly going to gather facts from an internal standpoint and let the judicial system take its course," Holtz said. "Any charge filed against an ECU football player is something that we take very seriously, but since this is a legal matter, any further comment on our part would be inappropriate at this point.
"Our basic expectation for every member of our program has always been that they must earn the right to represent East Carolina University on the football field every week and that they will be held accountable for their actions on and off the field,” Holtz added. “Any player charged with a crime will not represent ECU in any manner until cleared to do so by university and athletic department administrators. We always work closely with those entities to ensure that student-athletes are disciplined in a fair and consistent manner within the expectations for all ECU students as well as the expectations for all student-athletes."
After Tuesday’s practice, the fourth-year head coach said he was unaware of Sunday’s incident.
For the time being, Williams, who leads the Pirates with 350 yards rushing and five touchdowns, has been suspended indefinitely.
The 20-year old sophomore, a Greenville native, has been arrested three times since spring football practice began.
In April, he was arrested on a DWI charge and was also charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor. He’ll appear in court Nov. 5 for the resisting a police officer charge, Nov. 19 for the two assault with a deadly weapons charges, and Jan. 16 for the DWI and consumption of alcohol by a minor charges.