Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías will not face felony charges after his arrest in September, according to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office reportedly declined to file charges against the left-hander, which will send the case to the City Attorney's Office to consider a misdemeanor filing. Urías is currently a free agent, but still faces a potential suspension from MLB.
Urías was arrested on Sept. 3 last year while he was attending an LAFC game at BMO Stadium. Details were initially scarce, with police first reporting that a concerned citizen had flagged officers down after seeing a man attack a woman. The police report said a physical altercation had occurred between the two.
The incident was also reportedly caught on video via a citizen's cell phone. A subsequent report from TMZ claimed the woman had been upset over Urías taking pitchers with female fans and tried to leave early, at which point Urías allegedly slammed her against a fence, pulled her hair and swung at her. There was speculation of another incident in a car after the first altercation was broken up. The woman was allegedly found to have strangulation marks on her neck and redness on her face.
This was the second known domestic violence incident of Urías' career, as he was arrested in May 2019 after witnesses told police that they saw him push a woman to the ground in a parking lot. That incident led to no criminal charges, but he did receive a 20-game suspension from MLB.
Prosecutors declining to file charges does not mean a suspect has been exonerated, as there are many reasons why a district attorney would decide a case isn't worth pursuing beyond simply determining a person is innocent.
Beyond whatever the City Attorney's Office decides to do with misdemeanor charges, Urías still faces sanctions from MLB, which could be significant. An MLB player does not need to be criminally charged to be punished by the league.
No player has ever been suspended twice under the league's domestic violence policy twice and its conceivable Urías could face more a severe punishment as a second offender. Any suspension would follow him wherever he decides to sign, which figures to impact his free agency.
Urías would be the fourth player to be suspended under the DV policy as a free agent, and the other three — Derek Norris, Sam Dyson and Carlos Martínez — never played again in MLB. Only a year ago, Urías seemed on the verge of a lucrative free agency as a young, proven starter with postseason experience, but this arrest — coupled with injuries and a down 2023 season — have put his baseball future into question.
