Florida Attorney General Threatens to Classify Dijonai Carrington’s Foul on Sophie Cunningham as ‘Assault and Battery’
· Yahoo Sports
The DiJonai Carrington-Sophie Cunningham controversy is no longer staying on the basketball court.
What began with a Flagrant 2 foul and an ejection during Saturday’s Chicago Sky-Indiana Fever game quickly spilled onto social media. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier entered the picture hours later, turning an already heated WNBA controversy into a potential legal discussion.
Visit esporist.com for more information.
Florida AG James Uthmeier Weighs Legal Action Over DiJonai Carrington’s Controversial Foul on Sophie Cunningham
The viral incident came late in the first quarter. Cunningham appeared to have a clear path to the basket when Carrington chased her down and struck the Fever guard around the head and neck area, sending her crashing to the floor.
The officials reviewed the play before the crew chief explained that Carrington’s action involved a windup and follow-through. The result was a Flagrant 2 foul and an automatic ejection.
But the controversy took another turn moments later.
Carrington posted “White Privilege” on social media and tagged the Fever. Cunningham addressed the incident afterward, calling the play “unnecessary.”
Then Uthmeier weighed in.
Hours after the game, the Florida attorney general warned that the WNBA should not “play games” in Florida because he would be “charging people with assault.”
The comment immediately raised the stakes. But Uthmeier later clarified that his preference was not simply assault.
“I should probably clarify … assault and battery.”
The comments came as Carrington was already facing questions about her “White Privilege” post. Former NFL player Emmanuel Acho had criticized the message as “asinine,” prompting Carrington to respond.
The 2024 WNBA Most Improved Player stressed that she “never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege,” saying that connection was an assumption made by Acho and others.
Carrington also said she would “never use that term as a rhetorical weapon knowing the historical and social weight it holds without having the proper evidence to substantiate it.”
Carrington, however, has not publicly provided a specific explanation for what prompted the post.
As things stand, the basketball ruling and the legal question raised by Uthmeier are the biggest issues surrounding the incident.
The Flagrant 2 was a WNBA disciplinary designation. Uthmeier’s comments, by themselves, do not mean Carrington has been charged with a crime, nor do they establish that the foul legally constitutes assault or battery.
Any criminal or civil case would require a separate legal analysis under applicable law and would depend on the facts and evidence.
For now, the biggest development is that a foul and an ejection have drawn attention from Florida’s top state prosecutor. Whether Uthmeier’s warning ever moves beyond words is a separate question, but for Carrington and the league, the controversy has clearly entered a new arena.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.