July 1, 2005
Cal lineman run down by car while defending woman
Cal lineman Mike Tepper was run over twice by a car full of men following a confrontation he had with the men. Tepper stepped in when the men were harassing Cal volleyball player Camille Leffall.
Tepper, a redshirt freshman backup OL, needed surgery to repair a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments. Doctors installed nine screws and one plate put in his leg. Tepper can't walk on it for eight weeks.
He is expected to make a full recovery, but he will miss the 2005 season.
Cal Coach Jeff Tedford said he was "proud of the courage Mike showed Saturday night. We are looking forward to him returning to the team. He is a quality young man, and we expect him to make solid contributions for us."
Police arrested Johnny Ray Smith, 33, and Calvin Joe Kelley, 29, for violating terms of their probation or parole, and are investigating this incident as an assault with a deadly weapon case. After running down Tepper, the car fled a few blocks before crashing into a parked car. Police arrested the occupants after a brief foot chase.
Tepper gave an account of the events:
In a telephone interview from his Berkeley home Wednesday, Tepper said he was crossing Telegraph at Dwight Way about 1:30 a.m. Sunday when the men in the car began yelling at his 22-year-old friend, a Cal women's volleyball player.The woman, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday, said she wasn't interested and kept walking in the crosswalk, Tepper recalled.
"She then began to try and walk by the car, but the driver stepped on the gas and moved directly in front of us at the crosswalk," Tepper said in an Internet account of the incident. "At this point, I was standing next to the passenger side door, I could literally stick my hand out and touch the passenger's face at this distance, possibly 2 feet back at most."
The men continued trying to lure the woman to party with them, Tepper said.
Then he heard the driver put the car into reverse, Tepper said, so he grabbed the woman and pushed her to the ground and out of car's path.
In falling, Tepper said his right leg got caught in the front right tire, and he was thrown at least 8 feet, landing on his face.
Tepper said he then looked to his right to see the car coming toward him.
"I was a speed bump for this car burning out," he said.
Tepper was still on the ground when nearby police arrived, and he was rushed by ambulance to a Berkeley hospital. Tepper said it took a doctor and two emergency room nurses 11/2 hours to stop the bleeding from the leg. Because he weighs 320 pounds, Tepper said he was pumped with three times the normal amount of morphine and painkillers. On Wednesday he said he was "doing all right."
For all the bad press that players have seen in the off season (ie Tennessee, South Carolina, Clemson, Florida State et al), it's nice to be able to point out a stand up guy like Cal's Tepper. Between Tepper and the two Georgia heroes, it's been a good year for lineman.
Please note that all comments are subject to the Fanblogs Comment Policy.
