CHICAGO — A domestic violence civil protection order was filed Friday against Ohio State wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Zach Smith, according to a report from Brett McMurphy.
Smith’s ex-wife, Courtney, 33, filed the order with Delaware (Ohio) Police Department. Unless reversed by a judge on an Aug. 3 hearing, the order would be in place for five years and require Smith to not be within 500 feet of his ex-wife.
The ruling states: “the court finds that (Courtney Smith) is in immediate and present danger of domestic violence and for good cause the following temporary orders are necessary to protect the persons named (Courtney Smith and her children Cameron, 8, and Quinn, 6) in this order from domestic violence.”
The order was filed two days after Smith appeared in Delaware (Ohio) Municipal Court for a pre-trial hearing on a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing from an incident two months ago. Smith’s attorney, Brad Koffel, said that prosecutors “wanted him to plead guilty and be on supervised probation.”
According to court and police records, domestic violence allegations occurred during and after Smith’s marriage.
When he was a graduate assistant at Florida in 2009, an incident report from the Gainesville (Fla.) Police Department stated that Smith was arrested June 21 early in the morning for aggravated battery on a pregnant victim. Courtney was three months pregnant at the time.
The report revealed that Courtney, then 24, said Smith, then 25, “picked her up by grabbing her T-shirt and threw her against the bedroom wall located upstairs in their apartment.”
She told officers that her then-husband arrived at their apartment “with an unknown female co-worker that he was partying with” and Courtney “refused to have the unknown female, who Zach kept referring to as ‘baby,’ spend the night at their residence.”
Courtney stated that “a verbal argument took place over the female and questions of infidelity arose.” When she returned to her residence, a heated argument ensued in the upstairs bedroom. Courtney stated she tried to get Zach out of her bed, which he refused and then forcefully grabbed her.
The report stated that Smith “advised (officers) he works for UF Florida Gators as an assistant coach for the football team. Zach stated that he brought the female (co-worker) home because she was upset from breaking up with her boyfriend. … Zach stated that Courtney yelled at him and denied picking her up and throwing her into a wall. Zach had a visible red mark on his right bicep that he claimed was a result of breaking up a fight downtown at a club.
“(The officers) observed that Courtney’s shirt had been stretched just above her right breast. Courtney’s account of the incident was consistent with the redness to Zach’s right bicep because she advised that she attempted to hit him while he was picking her up.
“From the statements made on scene, (the officers) determined Zach was the primary aggressor.” Smith was then handcuffed and arrested, but Courtney decided not to press charges eight days later.
The Smiths have been divorced since Sept. 1, 2016.
On a separate occasion with allegations of domestic violence in 2015, the Powell (Ohio) Police Department reportedly responded to Courtney’s residence Oct. 26 for an incident involving Smith.
According to Eleven Warriors, the police report stated “that a domestic incident happened last night at (Courtney’s) home and that she has been a victim of sustained physical abuse by the suspect.”
“We are not going to comment at this time on the situation regarding Zach Smith,” Ohio State said in a statement. “This is a personnel matter and we don’t typically discuss such matters publicly. We are continuing to monitor.”