Yahoo Sports 
CMU LB Malik Fountain acquitted on assault charges
A Central Michigan linebacker accused of punching two women was acquitted on all charges on Thursday.
According to the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun, Malik Fountain, a sophomore for the Chippewas, was facing four misdemeanor assault charges - two counts of assault, one count of aggravated assault and one count of jostling - stemming from an alleged December incident at a bar. He was found not guilty after jury deliberations lasted about an hour.
From the Morning Sun:
In a move never seen before by defense attorney Joseph Barberi, jurors in the Malik Fountain trial filed out of the Isabella County Courthouse Thursday morning and hugged Fountain, his mother, father, girlfriend and brother.
As jurors returned not guilty verdicts for two counts of assault, one count of aggravated assault and one count of jostling, Fountain’s parents, Dion Fountain and Pamela Randle, and other relatives, quietly wiped tears from their eyes following Judge Eric Janes’ caution to the gallery to remain calm.
Per CMU’s student newspaper, one of the women involved in the incident told police a black man tried to dance with her, but she declined. She said the man punched her friend in the eye and also punched her in the nose, resulting in a broken bone.
[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for entertaining things you won’t see on the blog]
The woman picked Fountain out to police by viewing his photo on CMU’s football roster. Fountain maintained his innocence throughout the legal proceedings.
“I’m not the person they claimed I was,” Fountain said Thursday outside the courthouse. “There’s no way I would do something like this.”
Fountain has been indefinitely suspended from the program since his arrest. His status is unchanged as of now while the program “continues to evaluate this situation,” an athletic department spokesman told the Morning Sun.
After redshirting in 2014, Fountain was third on the team with 67 tackles in 2015. He also had 4.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
[Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers]
For more Central Michigan news, visit ChippewaCountry.com.
- - - - - - -
Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
