Deebo Samuel, Skai Moore cleared in Five Points assault; former USC player sought

Authorities are trying to locate former USC football player Jalen Antwan Dread, wanted in connection to a recent assault at a Five Points bar.

Dread, 20, is accused of assaulting a male victim at the Five Points Saloon a week ago, the Columbia Police Department said Saturday.

Deebo Samuel, a junior wide receiver for the Gamecocks football team, was not at the bar when the event happened, but he was in Five Points, Columbia Police spokesperson Jennifer Timmons said Saturday.

Skai Moore, a USC senior linebacker, was present, but did not participate in the assault.

A 24-year-old man reported that about 2:45 a.m. on April 29 a phone was knocked from his hand in Five Points Saloon. The three accused men denied they were responsible but “became agitated,” the police report states. The confrontation escalated into the man who complained being punched in the face several times, the police document states.

“(S)ubjects were pulled off (the man) by bar staff and escorted out of the bar,” according to the report.

The man’s left eye was clearly swollen, the report states.

The report stated that the assailants were identified as University of South Carolina football players but didn’t say by whom. The document, which is a public record, specifically names Deebo Samuel, Skai Moore and Jalen Dread.

Columbia police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons said Wednesday said the identities listed on the report were provided by what she called the bar’s “business staff.”

“CPD continues to investigate to corroborate or dispel the initial reported information,” she said Wednesday. Timmons also said the three had not yet been interviewed by investigators at that time. She did not elaborate.

The report states that the attackers were not at the bar when police arrived.

Police also confirmed they have video footage related to the fight, Timmons said only that the footage captures “a large crowd.” The State newspaper has filed an open-records request for a copy.

Samuel, a wide receiver, and Moore, a linebacker, are standouts on the team. Dread, also a linebacker, said he is leaving the team, Gamecocks football coach Will Muschamp said in February.

Samuel’s involvement of has been disputed for several days this week. First Muschamp said that he spoke to Samuel, who told him he was not at the scene. Later in the week, a Columbia attorney hired to represent Samuel said his client was “not present” when the incident happened and is “innocent of all allegations” involving the fight.

USC’s chief spokesman Wes Hickman didn’t reply to the newspaper’s inquiries.

But the school was investigating the incident, according to statements made by Muschamp.

The Five Points Saloon said on its Twitter account Tuesday that it had no comment on the incident.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Deebo Samuel, Skai Moore cleared in Five Points assault; former USC player sought."