Cam Inman and Robert Salonga: Reuben Foster's accuser breaks silence on ex-49er's alleged domestic violence

San Jose Mercury News - 12/6/2018

Dec. 06--Elissa Ennis now says she lied under oath in May when it came to saving Reuben Foster'sSan Francisco 49ers career, and now she is standing by her latest claims of domestic violence against him, an accusation that led to his Nov. 24 arrest and release from the team.

"I did what I had to do for the person I love," Ennis told ABC News about recanting in court her story of a Feb. 11 incident at their Los Gatos home. "I thought that he would change."

"Anybody in my position, they would've done the same thing if they shared a family with this person.

"He used to come crying to me and tell me he didn't have anybody. If somebody you love come crying to you, telling you that they didn't have anybody, you'd do the same thing, too. That's why I did what I did, because I loved him."

Foster was arrested Nov. 24 at the 49ers team hotel in Tampa, on the eve of their game against the Buccaneers, after Ennis called police and accused him of abuse.

Once the police arrived at the hotel upon her 911 call, she claimed the 49ers weren't helpful, telling ABC News: "I have pictures of the 49ers coming up there trying, trying to talk to the police, saying I'm the same ex-girlfriend that sat up there and lied."

"The 49ers fully cooperated with authorities, assisted in locating Mr. Foster and in no way impeded their investigation," a team spokesman said.

The 49ers released Foster the following day before he posted a $2,000 bond out of a Tampa jail. Washington claimed him off waivers, catching many by surprise, including Ennis, who told ABC News: "When he got signed, I was like, 'I can't believe somebody picked him up.' "

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge dismissed domestic-violence charges against Foster in May, a week after Ennis admitted to falsifying claims of domestic violence which she said were driven by financial motives and the quest to end Foster's career.

In describing the Feb. 11 incident to ABC News, Ennis echoed many of her initial claims to police: "Reuben threw my clothes off the balcony. He threw my stuff out the house. He dragged me down the stairs two, three times. He punched me in my face two, three times. Pulled me by my hair. Kicked me. Spit on me."

She recanted that story shortly afterward to police and again in court in May. Why? "Because I loved him, and love will have to you doing things that's not in your best interest because (of) the person you love," Ennis said.

"He invited me to come see him in Florida, and I came and he took one of my phones and he slapped me and pushed me," Ennis added. "I told him I was going to tell his new girlfriend that he paid for my flight out there, so that's what triggered it."

Legal experts in the Bay Area have said Foster's latest arrest at minimum exposes himself to a probation violation -- he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor possession of an assault weapon, the only surviving charge from his February domestic-violence arrest in Los Gatos -- and could give the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office cause to revisit that case. Prosecutors voiced skepticism about Ennis' recanting of her accusations at the time, but those same legal experts add that any attempt to re-charge Foster faces long odds.

"We are sad, though, not surprised, and exploring the legal options," reads a statement from the DA two days after Foster's Tampa arrest. "The cycle of domestic violence is frightening and frighteningly powerful. Every day, this office faces the challenges of keeping survivors safe and holding DV abusers criminally accountable. As we said when the judge dismissed the case against Mr. Foster: Our commitment to domestic violence survivors is unwavering."

Also after the Tampa arrest, news surfaced indicating that Foster and Ennis kept seeing each other after the highly publicized domestic-violence court hearings. Santa Clara police confirmed that they were called the night of Oct. 12 to a high-end apartment complex on Lick Mill Boulevard not far from the team's training facility and Levi's Stadium -- in a unit the two said they shared -- for reports of a domestic dispute and verbal altercation involving the mercurial couple after Ennis reportedly saw material on Foster's cell phone that she didn't like.

There were no allegations of any physical attack, and officers did not see any signs of injury to either person. Police said the officers took an informational report but did not make an arrest.

Check back later for updates to this story.

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