Football captain at Harvard suspended

CAMBRIDGE -- The Harvard University football captain has been indefinitely suspended and faces possible dismissal from the team as he prepares for a hearing on multiple criminal charges, including assault and battery domestic abuse and breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony at a campus dorm.

Matthew C. Thomas, an all-Ivy linebacker who last November was named the 133d football captain in school history, was arrested June 5 after he allegedly broke into the room of his former girlfriend in Gilbert Hall at Currier House and physically abused her, according to a criminal complaint filed by Harvard police in Cambridge District Court.

Witnesses said they first saw Thomas, who is 6 feet 1 inch and weighs 245 pounds, ``strangling [the alleged victim] with one hand" before ``he suddenly lifted her and drove his knee into her chest," according to a Harvard police report accompanying the complaint.

Police said the woman was transported by ambulance to Mount Auburn Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries, including a large welt on her lower back.

``I'm deeply troubled by the allegations," Harvard coach Tim Murphy said yesterday. ``Based on his arrest, I suspended him indefinitely from the team on June 8. If the allegations prove to be true, he will be dismissed from the team. We are just awaiting due process."

Thomas, 22, a senior from Mount Airy, Md., also was charged with malicious destruction of property for allegedly damaging the lock and door to his former girlfriend's room. He is scheduled to appear at a pretrial hearing July 19 in Cambridge District Court. He could not be reached for comment.

Thomas was arrested several weeks after two senior teammates -- tight end Dan Lane, of Coral Springs, Fla., and defensive back James Velissaris, of Chicago -- were disciplined for a drinking-related altercation with a shuttle bus driver outside Currier House. Both were suspended for next season's opener Sept. 16 against Holy Cross at Harvard Stadium.

Last year, Russell Schober, then an 18-year-old sophomore free safety from Webster, Texas, was arrested near Harvard Square and charged with possessing a small amount of marijuana and being a minor in possession of alcohol. A judge in Cambridge District Court found sufficient facts to continue the case without a finding and placed Schober on unsupervised probation for six months. The charges then were dismissed last Oct. 15, after Schober paid $50 in court costs.

Murphy suspended Schober from the team because of the incident, and Schober missed eight games last year during Harvard's 7-3 season.

When Murphy was asked if he were concerned about the series of alcohol-related incidents involving the Harvard team, he said, ``I think we're a microcosm of society. I think any college administrator is concerned about [students] drinking in college. I'm not sure that was any different 20 years ago."

In the latest incident, the alleged victim was described as ``a thin young woman" who ``was in obvious distress and having difficulty breathing and in an apparent state of panic, begging for an Emergency Medical Technician" when officers arrived, according to the police report. The woman said she and Thomas had separately attended the Senior Soiree, where both had been drinking, though she described Thomas as ``more intoxicated," the police reported.

The alleged victim told police she went to her room despite receiving a call warning her to stay away because Thomas was there. Police said she discovered Thomas passed out on the floor.

``She woke him to confront him about a relationship that he was involved in with another woman," the report said. ``She stated she poked him and yelling ensued between the two. He then jumped up and began to strike her about the body."

The police report said a witness told them that Michael Lucas, a senior fullback from Naperville, Ill., had placed Thomas on the bed in the alleged victim's room and told the witness Thomas was ``quite drunk and needed to sleep it off."

Officers said they needed to awaken Thomas after they aided the alleged victim. Their report said Thomas appeared confused about why police were there and, at first, about where he was. He was later arraigned in Cambridge District Court, where a judge found probable cause to proceed with the case. His arrest was reported June 22 by the Harvard Crimson.

Murphy suggested it would be unfair to characterize the recent series of incidents as representative of the teams he has coached at Harvard since 1994.

``I think I'm probably tougher on the kids than the college is," Murphy said. ``I think our kids have had a remarkable record of citizenship over the last 13 years."