The MU men’s basketball program suspended forward Darryl Butterfield indefinitely following his Wednesday night arrest on suspicion of third-degree domestic assault.
On Thursday, coach Mike Anderson suspended Butterfield, a 22-year-old junior-college transfer from Miami. Athletics Department spokesman Dave Reiter said Butterfield’s suspension includes team practices but declined to comment further, citing Butterfield’s arrest as an open criminal investigation.
At about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Columbia police were called to a 20-year-old woman’s Campus View apartment at 301 Campusview Drive shortly after Butterfield left. An ex-girlfriend of Butterfield, told police that he came to her apartment to collect some belongings.
“An argument ensued that turned heated,” said Columbia police Capt. Mike Martin. “Mr. Butterfield struck her in the mouth area.”
Butterfield was no longer at the residence when police arrived. They contacted him by phone and agreed to meet the 6-foot-7-inch forward at a coffee shop at the intersection of Hitt and Locust streets.
“He told us his version of what had occurred,” Martin said. “He indicated that any contact that happened between he and the victim was accidental.”
Butterfield later posted a $1,650 bond at the Boone County Jail.
Butterfield also had two outstanding warrants — one for driving with a suspended license and another for failing to obey a police officer — from Iron County, about 200 miles southeast of Columbia.
Martin said Butterfield has had no recent run-ins with Columbia police and was cooperative with officers Wednesday.
Butterfield began his athletic career as a quarterback for Miami Carol City Senior High School in Miami. After suffering injuries, Butterfield began playing basketball and was named the most valuable player of his high school team.
He later played for State Fair Community College in Sedalia and Mineral Area College in Park Hills before transferring to MU last year.
Last season, Butterfield recorded 21 steals and took Marshall Brown’s starting spot in an early February game against Nebraska.
Anderson and the MU Department of Athletics said they will investigate Butterfield’s arrest, which follows the July dismissal of starting forward Kalen Grimes, the team’s leading rebounder. This summer, Grimes, then 21, was charged with second-degree felony assault after he was accused of hitting another person in the face with the butt of a shotgun in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen on July 7 in Florissant, outside of St. Louis.