Though former Orioles pitcher Scott Erickson tried to avoid a fight with an out-of-control girlfriend, the authors say, he still found himself in handcuffs under Maryland's mandatory-arrest policy in domestic-abuse complaints. ROBERTO BOREA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Date published: 8/5/2006

WASHINGTON--An impor- tant truth has been lost in the controversy over the way the Philadelphia Phillies handled pitcher Brett Myers after his June arrest for spousal abuse. Kim Myers' injuries and the accounts of several witnesses leave little reason to doubt her husband's culpability. Nevertheless, the Phillies at first reserved judgment about the case and allowed Myers to pitch.

This was wrong, as the team admitted after widespread criticism, and Myers took a leave of absence. However, in many domestic-violence cases, the men arrested do deserve the open mind and support that the Phillies' erroneously extended Myers. Spousal-abuse arrests are often dubious, in part because of misguided domestic-violence laws and law enforcement policies.

Seattle police lieutenant Greg Schmidt, who created the Seattle Police Department's domestic-violence investigation unit in 1994, says that the mandatory-arrest laws of most states force police officers to make arrests "in petty incidents, often where the abuse is mutual or it is unclear who the aggressor was."

Moreover, Schmidt asserts, the "dominant aggressor" doctrine instructs police to downplay who struck the first blow in a domestic incident, and discourages dual arrests, which are often an appropriate measure. Instead, officers are pressured to see men and only men as the offenders.

Spurious spousal-abuse accusations and domestic-violence restraining orders are often used as legal maneuvers in divorce cases. The State Bar of California's Family Law Section recently complained that these tactics are "increasingly being used in family law cases to help one side jockey for an advantage in child custody." They're "part of the gamesmanship of divorce," one attorney recently stated in the Illinois Bar Journal.

An excellent example of what can happen to an athlete, or any man, is the saga of another major-league pitcher arrested for spousal abuse--Scott Erickson.

Police arrested Erickson after he called them during an altercation with his girlfriend in July 2002. Baltimore police concluded that Erickson's girlfriend, Lisa Ortiz (1) initiated the fight by hurling objects; (2) decided to come back twice after Erickson carried her out of the apartment; (3) repeatedly kicked the apartment door; (4) caused Erickson two minor injuries, one of them to his pitching arm; and (5) herself suffered no injuries.

Nonetheless, the police arrested Erickson under Maryland's mandatory-arrest law. Afterward, Ortiz publicly stated that Erickson, who did not pursue her either time after carrying her out, "has never been physically abusive toward me."

Date published: 8/5/2006