Washington football player Andru Pulu booked on investigation of assault

Andru Pulu, a University of Washington football player who was indefinitely suspended from the team last week, turned himself in to Seattle police Tuesday morning and was booked into the King County Jail on investigation of assault.

"He turned himself in," said Seattle police spokeswoman Rene Witt, though she could not provide details of Pulu's surrender. According to jail records, he was booked at 8:55 a.m. Tuesday.

Prosecutors say they expect to charge Pulu later in the week.

Pulu, a defensive end, was suspended indefinitely from the UW football team for a violation of team rules, coach Steve Sarkisian announced March 9 in a statement released by the school. The release said the UW athletic department and coach will have no further comment on the matter.

Last week, The Times obtained a police report detailing an assault investigation involving Pulu. The incident report had the names of the alleged suspect, victim and witnesses blacked out.

According to the report, a 22-year-old man was attacked after trying to break up a fight between two people he didn't know at a house party just north of the UW campus. He was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken nose and possible cheek fracture, according to the police report.

An officer wrote in the report that he was dispatched to University of Washington Medical Center just after 3 a.m. on March 7 and interviewed the injured 22-year-old man in the emergency room.

He told the officer he was at a party in the 5000 block of 15th Avenue Northeast and saw a man arguing with another person just after 12:30 a.m. on March 7, the report says. He tried to break up the fight, telling the man, "It's not that big of a deal," at which point the man grabbed the 22-year-old's neck, telling him, "It is that big of a deal," according to the police report.

The 22-year-old, who said he didn't recognize the man, "does not remember anything" after that, the report says.

According to two witnesses, the man struck the 22-year-old in the face, knocked him to the ground, and stomped on his right temple, the police report says.

The man then "left in an unknown direction," according to the report. He is described as a light-skinned black male, 18 to 21 years old, 6 feet 1 and 250 pounds with a muscular build.

The 22-year-old "has a broken nose and possibly a fractured cheek bone," the officer wrote. "I observed severe swelling to the left side" of his face and "a boot print on his right temple."

Pulu, a graduate of Federal Way High School, will be a sophomore in 2010 and was expected to contend for significant playing time, if not a starting role.

Pulu, 6-1, 251 pounds, played in 11 games as a freshman in 2009, making two tackles, and was credited with half of a sack against Idaho. He also played regularly on the kickoff-return team.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com; staff reporter Bob Condotta contributed to this article.