Huskies' Pulu charged with second-degree assault

Suspended University of Washington football player Andru Pulu was charged Thursday with second-degree assault in connection with an attack at an off-campus party on March 7.

Pulu turned himself in to police Tuesday morning and was released on bail from King County Jail just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Husky head coach Steve Sarkisian announced on March 9 that Pulu had been suspended indefinitely from the football team for a violation of team rules.

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 court charging papers and police, 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 sent to University of Washington Medical Center just after 3 a.m. March 7 and interviewed the injured man in the emergency room.

The man 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. 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 injured man, who said he didn't recognize the man who grabbed him, "does not remember anything" after that, the report says.

According to two witnesses, the man struck him on 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 man, 18 to 21 years old, 6-foot-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."

King County Deputy Prosecutor Thomas Gahan wrote in charging documents that Pulu has no criminal history.

On Wednesday, a King County District Court judge found probable cause to hold Pulu on investigation of second-degree assault but said that if Pulu makes bail he must abide by a court-ordered curfew, reside with his parents and abstain from using drugs or alcohol or possessing firearms, according to court paperwork.

The judge ordered Pulu to avoid contact with the alleged victim and any witnesses.

Pulu will return to court March 30 to be arraigned.

Pulu, a graduate of Federal Way High School, will be a sophomore in the fall and was expected to contend for significant playing time, if not a starting role. Pulu, 6-foot-1, 251 pounds, played in 11 games as a freshman defensive end in 2009.