ATLANTA — Arrest warrants for Marcell Ozuna were released Tuesday to 11Alive following an open-records request, revealing that the Atlanta Braves outfielder and his wife were arguing over an affair when he repeatedly hit her and threatened to kill her.
According to the warrants, the domestic violence dispute began when Ozuna took his wife’s cellphones from the bathroom without her knowing and wouldn’t return them.
She then took his cellphone and called 911, the warrants stated. Ozuna went outside of the home and his wife chased him around a car and threw a garden light at him but missed, attempting to get the cellphones back, according to the warrants.
She then went inside the home and locked the door. Ozuna re-entered the home through the garage door and went to the kitchen where his wife grabbed a large knife from a drawer. Ozuna later clarified that the knife wasn’t pointed at him.
He continued to yell at her while she held the knife by her hip. She told him “if he got closer, she was going to hurt him”, the warrants stated.
They continued to argue over the cellphones, the warrants said that’s when Ozuna repeatedly hit her in the back of her hands with the cellphones, pushed her and smashed her face into a wall, and then she fell to the floor as they were fighting over the cellphones.
The warrants said when the victim was on the floor, Ozuna wrapped his fingers around her throat.
According to officers, they arrived and saw Ozuna “grabbing the victim by the neck and throwing her against a wall.”
Ozuna faces charges of aggravated assault strangulation and and a misdemeanor first offense of battery: family violence.
He was arrested and taken into custody at the Fulton County Jail Saturday.
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Lawyers said the couple is in the process of getting a divorce. They also said the couple had a previous domestic violence incident in Florida last year.
The outfielder was ordered not to have contact with the victim, who is living in the Miami area. However, he can have contact with his children through a relative or third party.
Ozuna was released Monday afternoon on a $20,000 bond after making his first court appearance.
In February, the Braves signed Ozuna to a four-year contract worth $64 million. The deal also included a fifth-year club option at $16 million or a $1 million buyout, which guarantees him $65 million.