Johnsons: It was a 'mistake'
In an interview with Channel 4 last night, former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson and his wife, Jacqueline, said their mutual arrests on assault and battery charges after a domestic dispute last Sunday were a ``terrible mistake" and police never should have been involved.
``I felt it important that we both set the record straight," Jacqueline Johnson told Bob Lobel in an interview at the Johnsons' Weston home. ``It was a simple argument that escalated. At no time was it necessary to have police involved."
According to the police report, Jacqueline Johnson, 40, said she and her husband got into an argument that turned violent when her husband grabbed her wrist, twisted it behind her back, pushed her into a bookcase, and then used his fingers to push her head into the bookcase. She said she fought back by punching him.
``Do I want to take that back? Definitely, but I can't," she said when pressed about the details in the police report.
``Please judge my husband not on this, but on his track record . . . It was my fault."
Ted Johnson, who told police they were arguing over a medication prescribed to him that she wanted to take, expressed dismay that the reputation he built in his 10 seasons as a Patriot might be irrevocably damaged.
``The three Super Bowl rings I could care less about. [The important things to me] are honesty, integrity," said Johnson, 33, who worked as a football analyst for Channel 4 last season.
``Anyone who knows me knows that's not me," he said. ``I would never do that. But people are going to believe what they believe."
The second-round pick from the University of Florida is scheduled to fly to Boston this morning and sign a four-year deal.
According to David Canter, Jackson's agent, Patriots rookies are scheduled to report to Gillette Stadium tonight.
Canter also confirmed that linebacker Jeremy Mincey, a sixth-round pick from Florida, has agreed to a three-year deal.
That leaves just three of the Patriots' 10 draft picks without deals.
