Posted on Wed, May. 07, 2008

NFL

Ex-Viking charged with hurting child

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS --

Former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Darrion Scott was charged Tuesday with assault and accused of holding a plastic dry cleaning bag over the head of his 2-year-old son.

Scott was charged in Hennepin County Court with third-degree assault and domestic assault by strangulation, both felonies. He also was charged with endangerment of a child -- a gross misdemeanor -- for allegedly keeping a loaded, unsecured handgun in his unlocked nightstand, where a 2-year-old could have easy access to it.

According to the complaint, the boy's mother said she went to Scott's home on April 26 to pick the boy up when she heard the boy crying and found him with a dry cleaning bag over his head and Scott holding the bag tight around the boy's neck. Scott said he was playing with the child and wanted to see if the boy could get the bag off his head himself.

The boy's mother reported the incident to child protection and photographed red marks she saw on the boy's neck, the complaint said.

• Washington Redskins receiver Antwaan Randle El had arthroscopic knee surgery and is expected to recover in time for training camp.

In brief

TENNIS: Top-ranked Roger Federer defeated one of his most challenging opponents, cruising past Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Rome Masters.

Also, Andy Roddick defeated Mardy Fish 6-1, 6-4 in an all-American matchup.

TRACK AND FIELD: Former Olympic sprinter Tim Montgomery was denied bond in connection with federal heroin-distribution charges.

Montgomery, 33, pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Judge F. Bradford Stillman in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va. Trial was set for July 9.

HOCKEY: Dany Heatley scored the winning goal with 46.8 seconds remaining to lift Canada to a 5-4 victory against the United States at the world hockey championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Earlier in Quebec City, Washington Capitals teammates Alex Ovechkin and Sergei Fedorov each scored a goal, helping Russia defeat Denmark 4-1.

COLLEGES: Former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, 31, was charged with marijuana possession, driving under the influence of alcohol and hit-and-run early Tuesday, less than a week after he was hired as the school's assistant director of player personnel.

• West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins'new contract stipulates he can be fired for substance abuse or habitual intoxication affecting his job performance.

In 2005, Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher refused to extend Huggins' contract after his conviction for drunken driving a year earlier.

• Former Montana State basketball player Branden Miller was sentenced in Bozeman, Mont., to 120 years in prison in the shooting death of a suspected drug dealer.