Cleveland native and former Michigan standout Frank Clark's legal issues have been well-documented since a mid-November incident in Sandusky that led to his arrest and subsequent dismissal from the Wolverines' football team.
However, on Friday afternoon, new details about the case came to light hours after Clark was finishing up his first practice in Seattle.
A hotel night manager told police in Ohio that Seahawks top draft pick Frank Clark threatened her and admitted hitting his girlfriend during a Nov. 15 altercation, according to newly released documents.
In a statement to police in Sandusky, Ohio, the day after the incident, manager Stephanie Burkhardt wrote that soon after she entered the couple’s hotel room Clark told her, “I will hit you like I hit her” and shouldered her out of the way before leaving. The documents, obtained by The Seattle Times via public-records request, supplement the initial police report.
Burkhardt did not tell police about Clark's threat the night of the incident, but states that she emailed the Sandusky Police Department the following day. She says she was never contacted by the Sandusky police before their decision to reduce Clark's charges from a first-degree domestic violence and assault to a fourth-degree persistent disorderly conduct.
Burkhardt did not mention the comment she attributed to Clark immediately to police the night of the incident or to The Times during an interview earlier this week.
She said she forgot to tell police because she was too exhausted and preoccupied with how Hurt and her siblings were doing. Burkhardt said she left the scene after 1 a.m. and emailed her statement the following afternoon.
“I don’t know why they didn’t even question me about it,” Burkhardt said. “He straight up admitted to hitting her, and they didn’t do anything about it.’’
For his part, Clark insisted Friday that he's been upfront about the situation from the start.
Clark declined to discuss details of the case Friday at the Seahawks’ training facility in Renton but has denied striking his then-girlfriend, Diamond Hurt.
“I’ve been honest and up front this whole time as much as I can,” he said Friday. “Everything I’ve said to the coaches, to everyone who’s questioned me about it, I’ve been honest and up front from the very beginning. That’s all I can do.”
Nothing else is likely to come of these new details, and Clark's future the Seahawks isn't likely to be affected.
Perkins Township Police Chief Kenneth Klamar said Friday that unless Burkhardt pursued charges, there was nothing more police could do. But officers intentionally included the statement in the Clark arrest file obtained by The Times.
