Former Seahawks defensive tackle Chad Eaton (pictured at the right trying to make a tackle) was recently arrested for alleged domestic violence. I don't know what happened between him and his wife Tina, but there a few things which bear mention:

1) Last year Tina was arrested at their home after bloodying her husband's nose. She didn't bother denying it, instead telling police officers that she hit him because she thought he was cheating on her. "I attacked him because I think he's cheating" is a common element in domestic violence cases, and it's interesting the way some women feel entitled to attack or abuse men. The Scott Erickson case is another example.

The reverse, of course, would never and should never be tolerated. There are plenty of times when a male abuser has a fair reason to be angry with his wife or girlfriend, but that never justifies a man hitting a woman. Somehow we don't get it when the genders are reversed. And when this type of incident does happen, the press often reacts with "well, who could blame her?"

For example, one moronic piece released after Tina's arrest last year said, "Tina Eaton, who's had four kids by this specimen, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for going this long without punching him in the face, which she inevitably did on Sunday."

2) The two are in the middle of divorce proceedings, and have four children. Women often use false charges of domestic violence as custody maneuvers in divorce--that may (or may not) be what's happening here. I'm particularly skeptical when a man is arrested for DV when there is a history of the spouse being violent towards him--abused men are often arrested for what is actually their wives' or girlfriends' violence.

3) When the news articles about the arrest describe the wife's violence last year, they are careful to make sure we know right from the beginning that Chad is substantially larger than Tina. Yet research shows that the relative size of the combatants is often a nonissue. Crime journalist Patricia Pearson, author of When She Was Bad: Violent Women & the Myth of Innocence, explains:

"The dynamic of domestic violence is not analogous to two differently weighted boxers in a ring. There are relational strategies and psychological issues at work in an intimate relationship that negate the fact of physical strength. At the heart of the matter lies human will. Which partner--by dint of temperament, personality, life history--has the will to harm the other?"

Eaton accused of domestic violence
Seattle Post Intelligencer (7/23/07)

EVERETT -- Former Seahawks defensive tackle Chad Eaton was arrested for investigation of domestic violence assault.

Eaton was arrested in Monroe, booked into jail in Everett on Saturday and released Sunday on $2,500 bail, according to Snohomish County jail records.

Additional details about the incident were not immediately available.

Rebecca Hover, a spokeswoman with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, refused to provide a copy of the police report, saying she did not know if the investigation had been completed.

No criminal charges had been filed in the case as of Monday afternoon.

Last year, Eaton's wife, Tina, was arrested at the couple's home in Redmond after a fight that left her husband with a bloody nose. The 5-foot-4, 130-pound woman told sheriff's deputies she punched her 6-foot-5, 300-pound husband because she suspected he had cheated on her, court documents said.

Charges were not filed against Tina Eaton because her husband didn't want the case pursued.

Eaton, 35, played his college ball at Washington State. He spent five seasons with the New England Patriots, three with the Seahawks and one with the Dallas Cowboys before retiring after the 2004 season.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 12:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can trackback from your own site.