Volleyball's Stanley charged with assault
Advertiser Staff and News Services
U.S. Olympic volleyball player Clay Stanley was charged with assault yesterday, accused of hitting a pregnant woman during a scuffle in Athens, Greece.
Stanley, a Kaiser High School and University of Hawai'i alum, was taken before a judge, and requested and received two days to prepare his defense. He was ordered held pending the trial.
Stanley
"Unfortunately all this stuff comes out, but nobody knows what exactly happened. We don't know. Nobody knows ... we have to wait for word on what actually happened," said Stanley's father Jon of Honolulu who has been in touch with his son's girlfriend, Desiree Duran, in Athens.
Jon said he heard that the woman was riding by on a motorcycle with a male companion, possibly her husband, and Clay was either entering or exiting a restaurant with his volleyball teammates.
An incident followed and Clay was eventually charged with hitting the woman, who is eight months pregnant.
"Clay really doesn't know what happened as far as the incident with the women," Jon said. "It's kind of hard to believe that he would be walking by and hit a pregnant lady."
Jon said a hearing would be tomorrow and many of Stanley's Olympic teammates were staying back.
Stanley, who plays for the Panathanikos club team in the Greek pro league, finished seventh in the Athens Olympics with 110 points and second with 17 aces. He lives in Greece.
The U.S. team was swept in its bronze-medal match against Russia on Sunday. The Americans finished 4-4 and had its highest finish in a dozen years.
Stanley played for UH until 1999 and joined the national team in 2000. He did not play volleyball in high school because Kaiser did not have a volleyball team.
