The San Francisco 49ers announced Sunday morning that they have released linebacker Reuben Foster. In grimly familiar news, Foster was arrested Saturday night at the 49ers team hotel in Tampa, and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. This is at least the third time that Foster has been arrested in 2018, and his second arrest for domestic violence.
Ian Rapoport reports that Foster got into an altercation with “a 28-year-old woman he’s had an on-again, off-again relationship with,” and Foster is accused of slapping a cell phone from her hand and hitting her in the face hard enough to leave a bruise “on her face and on her collarbone.” Elissa Ennis, who accused Foster of domestic violence back in February, is not named in these reports, but it’s worth mentioning that she’s 28 years old and has been described both as Foster’s girlfriend and ex-girlfriend over the course of the last year.
The 49ers declined to release Foster amid felony domestic violence charges earlier this year, with general manager John Lynch saying they’d wait for due process to play out before making a decision about Foster’s future. That commitment to due process did not extend to this second domestic violence arrest—Foster was reportedly arrested at 9:10 p.m. Saturday night, and the 49ers announced his release before dawn Sunday morning, while Foster was still being held without bail. Foster was suspended by the NFL for the first two games of this season over misdemeanor gun and marijuana charges stemming from arrests in January and February.