In a scenario reminiscent of Tonya Harding vs Nancy Kerrigan, the backup punter at University of Northern Colorado has been accused of stabbing his rival teammate in the leg -- his kicking leg.
Mitch Cozad allegedly attacked Rafael Mendoza in a parking lot this week. Arrested on a charge of second-degree assault, Cozad was freed on Wednesday on a US$30,000 bond.
Mendoza, who was treated and released at a Greeley hospital, will miss at least tomorrow's game at Texas State University.
PHOTO: AP
The incident conjured up images of the rivalry between figure skaters Harding and Kerrigan. Harding was banned from the sport for life after her former husband hired a hit man to smack Kerrigan on the knee with a crowbar.
"I guess the only identified motive [in the attack on Mendoza] at this point in time is the competition for that position," Evans police Lt. Gary Kessler said.
Last Monday, Mendoza was attacked from behind and stabbed in his right thigh after parking his car about 9:30pm outside his apartment in Evans, a small town near Greeley and about 80km north of Denver.
The assailant fled in a black Dodge Charger, Kessler said. About 10 minutes after the attack, a liquor store clerk told police that two men in a car matching that description stopped outside the store, stripped tape off the license plate and drove away.
The clerk gave police the license number, and the car was traced to Cozad, who was arrested on Tuesday.
Cozad was suspended from the university and the team, and evicted from his dormitory.
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