Ariz. Cardinals Cheerleader Arrested for Allegedly Attacking Boyfriend
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Arizona Cardinals | Scottsdale Police Department – Obtained by ABC News(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) — An Iraq War veteran turned NFL cheerleader was arrested for aggravated assault and disorderly conduct after she allegedly attacked her boyfriend, who captured the incident on his cell phone.
Megan Welter, 29, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is seen on cell phone video obtained by ABC News angrily questioning her boyfriend about text messages between him and a female friend.
“Who is she!” Welter is heard screaming in the footage as her boyfriend, who has not been identified, tries to calm her down.
Police were called to the couple’s home after Welter placed a 911 call and accused her boyfriend of attacking her.
“He smashed my head into tile,” she is heard saying on the recording.
Video footage released by the Scottsdale Police Department that was shot at the scene of the alleged domestic dispute shows Welter pleading with officers to get her boyfriend out of the home.
But it was Welter who ended up being taken into custody on July 20 after her boyfriend countered with his side of the story. “I was asking her to stop, I was trying to leave, she was pulling out my hair, she was scratching me, she was punching me in my face and I have everything on tape,” her boyfriend said.
Authorities said both parties admit to drinking heavily on the night of the argument. Welter was reportedly so drunk she could not say what had happened.
Welter has cheered for the Arizona Cardinals for two years, according to the team’s website. But she’s recently made headlines for her service in the Iraq War, where she spent 16 months.
“Our country has given us so many freedoms and to be a part of fighting for that and maintaining that, it means a lot,” she told ABC’s Phoenix affiliate KNXV-TV.
Welter’s boyfriend told ABC’s Good Morning America that he hopes the incident “doesn’t take away from the good things she’s done for the NFL and for her country.”
“I want people to know that she’s a wonderful, beautiful woman who had a momentary lapse of judgment,” he said.
A representative for the Arizona Cardinals did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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