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The LAPD said that they are investigating whether USC cornerback Josh Shaw was involved in a possible domestic violence case the night he sprained his ankles.
Initially Shaw said he had been injured while heroically rescuing his nephew, but he copped to making the whole thing up. Now police are giving a suspicious burglar report from the night he sprained his ankles a second look, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Police earlier said that Shaw was named—though not as a suspect—in a possible burglary case at the Orsini Apartments near USC. Shaw's girlfriend lives there, and he lives in another building in the same complex.
On Saturday night, a neighbor called to report that a woman was screaming in the building at 10:40 p.m. Police responded and knocked on the door of the third-floor apartment where the screams had been coming from. They busted down the door and conducted a brief search only to find the unit was empty. They noticed a window had been pried open.
Witnesses said that they saw a man with dreadlocks climbing from the balcony of the apartment. Shaw's girlfriend later showed up in the hallway near her apartment and spoke with police. She said that the description of the man witnesses saw sounded like her boyfriend, but at that time, she did not mention being the victim of domestic violence.
A source at the apartment told Inside USC that Shaw got into a heated argument with his girlfriend. After the argument, the pair left her apartment separately. The source says Shaw returned to the apartment again, and he jumped off the balcony when police arrived.
No items were reported stolen from his girlfriend's apartment, according to TrojanSports.com. And police haven't determined whether Shaw's girlfriend was the woman they heard screaming.
Capt. John McMahon, head of Central Division patrol, told the Times that Shaw, under advice from his attorney, has refused to be interviewed about the case.
“We would have like to hear from Mr. Shaw to provide some clarity about the situation, but that is not going to happen,” McMahon told the Times. “In light of that our investigation into a possible domestic dispute will continue.”
Though Shaw has refused to be interviewed about the case, his lawyer tells the Times that he fell—and did not jump—off a balcony at the Orsini. Shaw's attorney Donald Etra told TMZ, "There is absolutely NO domestic violence."
Newsweek reports that Shaw was able to get away with his lie by enlisting friends and family members to corroborate his phony story. He even requested a correction from the media department about his story at one point.
“With anyone else you might be a little more skeptical,” USC’s sports information director Tim Tessalone told Newsweek. “But of the 105 [football] players, if you line them up, Josh Shaw’s carrying the flag. I mean, this is an exemplary guy. This is your out-front guy.”
There's more controversy roiling the USC football team. Anthony Brown, a back-up running back, quit the team yesterday and accused head coach Steve Sarkisian of being a racist on Facebook and Instagram. TMZ got in touch with Brown to ask what happened, and Brown said his issues with Sarkisian reached a breaking point on Tuesday:
Brown says he walked into Sark's office to talk about where he stood with the team (since he's been injured) and was met with hostility. "When I walked in the room he said, 'You have the f**king guts to walk in here -- coward."
Brown continues, "The way he was talking to me ... it was like a slave master talking to his slave."
According to Brown, Sarkisian never used the N-word or any other racial slur ... but feels the overall "tone" was racist.
Eventually, Brown says, "He told me to get the f**k out of his office."
