Kansas star forward and future lottery pick Josh Jackson was charged with criminal damage to property on Friday. The misdemeanor charge is for cases under $1,000-worth of damage, and can call for a six-month jail sentence.
Jackson was charged after he allegedly kicked the car of a sophomore women’s basketball player, McKenzie Calvert, outside a local bar in December. Accordign to police, Calvert threw a drink on Kansas guard LeGerald Vick before leaving the Yacht Club. When she attempted to leave, Jackson followed her to her car, where they argued before Calvert got in the driver’s seat. Jackson proceeded to kick her door and rear taillight.
Police were initially considering felony charges, as the car suffered a reported $3,150.45 in damages, but as reported in the Kansas City Star, police could not prove beyond “beyond a reasonable doubt that all the damage to the door and taillight were caused by Jackson.”
This is the second time in a year that Calvert has been attacked by members of the men’s basketball team. In late January, a university investigation concluded that Vick likely punched and kicked Calvert in the face in a case of domestic violence stemming from Dec. 2015 and Jan. 2016, according to the Star.
Vick’s playing time did not suffer as a result on the findings, which recommended he be put on two-year probation, a recommendation the athletic department has not acknowledged as being followed. Vick was not charged in the vandalism case; he was listed only as a witness.
Calvert, ranked as a top-20 recruit out of high school, transferred to Kansas after a year at USC. The Kansas City Star reports that since the December incident, Calvert’s minutes have been cut in half, from 26.1 to 15.8 per game; Jackson’s floor time has steadily increased over the same period and he has started in all 28 games. Head coach Bill Self said he did not plan on issuing any punishment, telling the press they already handled it “in-house,” though he refused to elaborate on what that punishment entailed. Self called his top recruit a “great ambassador for the university.”