Hall suspended following arrest

ATLANTA — Georgia Tech on Friday announced the indefinite suspension of Yellow Jackets defensive lineman and Hawkinsville product Robert Hall following an arrest last weekend.

According to a Georgia Tech police report obtained Friday afternoon by The Telegraph, the senior defensive end was arrested early Sunday morning for battery, stemming from an alleged argument with a female Georgia Tech athlete who, according to the report, lives with him. He was transported to the Fulton County jail.

A rising senior on the Yellow Jackets football team, Hall, 23, appeared in only three games as a junior last season after a knee injury cut short his playing time. He also sat out all of this past spring’s workouts while rehabbing the injury.

According to the report, at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, campus police responded to a domestic call at the Undergraduate Living Center at 580 Turner Place in Atlanta. Both Hall and the alleged victim answered the door, responding officers reported.

One officer said the alleged victim had blood on her shirt and was bleeding from her head. The officer went on to add that she received medical attention on the scene for cuts to her head. There was also blood on the wall leading out of the apartment and blood in the bathroom, the report said.

The report indicated the alleged argument began over money the two contributed to a joint account. It states that Hall tried to communicate with the alleged victim about money she had been spending from the account. From there, a verbal altercation allegedly ensued.

Two Georgia Tech football players were also named in the report.

Mario Edwards and Joshua Nesbitt, who were in the building at the time, said they were sleeping and did not hear anything.

Another witness was named in the report and stated he heard loud screaming coming from Hall’s bedroom “multiple times.” He also stated, however, that he did not observe an actual physical altercation.

Hall’s suspension is pending and dependent upon the outcome of the legal process.

In its statement released early Friday afternoon, Georgia Tech called the event an “incident,” and said that things were being taken “very seriously and … being treated with the highest priority.”

A former standout at Hawkinsville, the 6-foot-3, 260-pound Hall was a member of two state championship teams in high school. He had 51 tackles and five sacks his senior year despite missing four games.

He was expected to play a major role in the Yellow Jackets’ defense last season but was hampered when he was sidelined with the knee injury against Miami during Georgia Tech’s third game.

Two years ago, another Yellow Jackets football player had a run-in with the law but was eventually cleared and allowed to play again.

In 2008, safety Jerrard Tarrant was charged with rape and subsequently suspended indefinitely by Paul Johnson during the head coach’s first season at Georgia Tech.

Tarrant was later reinstated after charges were dropped following the season and, in 2009, he was a consistent contributor, scoring touchdowns on punt returns in the first two games.