Police records show three women allege abuse by Packers running back Josh Jacobs
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs is the subject of allegations from three women that were disclosed in police records released by the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department on Friday night, the records show. The accounts were included as officers followed up on the battery case arising from Jacobs’ May arrest.
Jacobs pleaded no contest on 10 September to misdemeanor counts of battery and criminal damage to property after an arrest on 26 May, when a woman reported he had thrown her to the ground. Green Bay TV station NBC 26 first reported the release of the records. The NFL placed Jacobs on the commissioner’s exempt list in August after charges were filed, which caused him to miss the Packers’ first six games, and the league is continuing its investigation. Jacobs’ lawyers, David Z Chesnoff, Richard A Schonfeld and Clarence F Duchac III, issued a statement on Saturday: “The Brown County District Attorney’s office had these uncorroborated, old, and previously unreported allegations for months. They conducted their own exhaustive investigation, along with the police department, and the D.A. determined that only two misdemeanor charges were warranted. They then entered into a plea agreement with Josh Jacobs. Josh has repeatedly expressed his remorse and is honoring the terms of the agreement.” The Packers had no immediate comment.
One woman contacted police after Jacobs’ arrest and initially described an incident she said occurred around 2023, later clarifying it took place on 5 January 2022. She said she had communicated with Jacobs for about six months and spent roughly 11 hours at his home; after she told him she had not come for sex, she said he became angry, slapped her and told her not to disrespect him. According to the account in the records, she said Jacobs took her phone and threw it into a swimming pool when she attempted to leave, grabbed her by the hair, threw her on to a bed, pinned her down, threw her to the floor and said: “I should kill you right now.” She also said he spat on her and that she had not previously reported the incident because she remained friends with Jacobs and feared not being believed.
A second woman told police she had sex with Jacobs in April 2021 and that, after a condom broke, she asked him to get tested because both had been involved with other people. She said Jacobs removed her from the residence, grabbed her by the arms and biceps, pushed her against a wall and threw her belongings out, and that she sustained bruises to her arms and swelling around her ribs. Hobart/Lawrence police noted they had obtained records from that incident showing officers observed “no visible signs of injury, bruising or damage consistent with a physical altercation.”
A third woman said she met Jacobs via social media and that he flew her to a residence in May 2022, where she described an altercation in which he grabbed her by the hair, placed his hands on her head and neck, dragged her, scratched her chest and took her phone after it fell to the floor. She told police she suffered bruises to her arm and scratches to her chest and neck and said she had not reported the incident at the time because she was not a US citizen and Jacobs told her she could be deported.
The police records also provide additional detail about the 23 May incident that led to Jacobs’ arrest. In the criminal complaint released in August, the woman said Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she tried to exit through a garage door, causing her to hit her head; she said he took her phone while she was on the ground. The records further state the woman told officers Jacobs lunged at her, pinned her on the bed with his body weight on her chest and put his hand over her mouth and nose, leaving her feeling unable to breathe, and that she believed she briefly lost consciousness when the confrontation moved to the garage.
Jacobs is a three-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL in rushing in 2022 while with the Las Vegas Raiders, the team he was with when the three earlier incidents are alleged to have occurred, and he joined the Packers in 2024. He returned to the Packers’ lineup two weeks ago and scored twice in the team’s Thursday night win over the Carolina Panthers; he celebrated one touchdown by briefly placing his hands behind his back, a gesture that drew immediate backlash, and Jacobs said he was modelling the celebration after a gospel song called Break Every Chain.
It is unclear how the latest allegations will play into the NFL’s investigation into Jacobs. The NFL is still investigating Jacobs over the incident that led to his May arrest, so the league could impose further discipline on the running back.