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PROVO — Charges have been filed in a Halloween-night fight involving two Brigham Young University football players.
Matthew Santos, 20; Alexander Jackman, 21; Zachary Stout, 21; and Joe Sampson, 23, face class-B misdemeanor charges of assault after reports of a fight at the Rancherito's restaurant at 1314 N. State Street in Provo.
The fight broke out Nov. 1 at about 3 a.m. Officers who responded reported that many of the parties involved had fled the scene by the time police arrived.
Video obtained of the incident allowed police to identify individuals involved and witnesses of the event. The video shows several individual fights breaking out and one woman being punched in the face and falling to the floor.
Sgt. Brandon Post with the Provo Police Department said there were several people involved on both sides of the altercation, and that the police have obtained witness statements from multiple people.
"The four who were charged are those we identified as the instigators and aggressors of the assault," Post said.
Sampson, a senior and safety on BYU's football team, and Stout, a sophomore linebacker, were suspended from the team for a violation of team rules and later withdrew from the school.
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said Thursday an Honor Code review had been initiated at the time of the incident, but became unnecessary once Sampson and Stout had withdrawn. Santos and Jackman are not students at the school.
"This is certainly something the university has taken very seriously," Jenkins said.
Sampson started in eight of nine games this year at free safety with 33 tackles, for 56 career stops in his two seasons at BYU. Stout played in one game at inside linebacker in 2012 with one tackle. He made 21 tackles in 10 games as a true freshman in 2010 before missing the 2011 season due to injury.
