Football: Off-Field Incidents

Head football coach Tim Murphy suspended team captain Matthew C. Thomas ’06 (’07) indefinitely after the Harvard University Police arrested the linebacker in connection with an incident on June 5 at Currier House. The police report said Thomas broke down the door to his ex-girlfriend’s room; when she returned, an altercation began and witnesses found Thomas “strangling her with one hand.” The report said he “suddenly lifted her and drove his knee into her chest,” and that she was examined at Mount Auburn Hospital. Thomas, who was allegedly intoxicated, has been charged with assault and battery, breaking and entering, and destruction of property. At press time, his case was continuing in the courts, and the football team’s 2006 media guide had dropped him from the roster listing, with linebacker Ryan E. Tully ’07 replacing him as team captain.

Two other players, James R. Velissaris ’07 and Danny P. Lane ’07, allegedly inebriated after the team’s spring barbecue on April 29, engaged in fisticuffs with the driver of a Harvard shuttle bus, who was subsequently fired. The players were suspended for the opening game against Holy Cross on September 16.