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Baylor associate athletic director arrested after allegedly assaulting sportswriter

Graham Watson
Baylor's associate athletic director was arrested earlier this month for assaulting a sportswriter. (Getty)
Baylor’s associate athletic director was arrested earlier this month for allegedly assaulting a sportswriter. (Getty)

Update: 12:50 pm ET

Nielsen’s attorney released a statement denying he grabbed the reporter by the neck.

Original story: 8:40 a.m. ET

Baylor Associate Athletic Director Heath Nielsen was arrested earlier this month on a misdemeanor assault warrant after he allegedly grabbed a sportswriter by the throat, according to a report by KWTX.

According to the report, James McBride, a writer for The Blaze News, a community newspaper in Keller, which is in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, was taking a picture with a Baylor player following the Bears’ 62-22 loss to TCU on Nov. 5 when Nielsen grabbed him by the “throat with his right hand, squeezed and pushed him away from the football player,” the report said.

Baylor Associate Athletic Director Heath Nielsen has been with Baylor for 17 seasons.
Baylor Associate Athletic Director Heath Nielsen has been with Baylor for 17 seasons. (KWTX)

Nielsen was charged with assault with bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor. He was booked into the McLennan County Jail on Nov. 8 and was free on bond.

McBride said he received permission from the player to take the picture and both the player and McBride did not understand Nielsen’s reaction.

Nielsen told both men that McBride was “abusing his privileges.” Credentialed media are not allowed to seek autographs and are discouraged from taking pictures with players.

Here’s what McBride had to say about the incident to KWTX:

“I had asked the player if I could take a photo with him, he said ‘yes,’” McBride said Monday.

“I was leaning back to take the photo. I heard somebody who I didn’t know at this point in time yell from my right-hand side, saying ‘no interviews on the field,’” he said.

“About that time they came in and tomahawk-chopped, trying to knock the phone that I had taken the picture with out of my hand. They were unsuccessful in trying to do that, and when they couldn’t do that they came up and they grabbed my throat, and I pulled back. Whenever I looked up I saw that it was Heath Nielsen,” he said.

Right after the incident, McBride said, Nielsen told him, “You’ll never f****** work in this business again. You’re abusing your privileges on the field.”

McBride photographed his injuries and a newspaper spokesman said stadium cameras captured the entire incident. McBride told KWTX he thinks Nielsen should issue him a handwritten apology and lose his job.

Nielsen is in his 17th season with the university and has held his current position since 2012. Baylor has not commented on the incident.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!