Tequila
Wednesday, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department turned over its reports to the DA's office. The DA will review them to decide if charges should be filed.
Merriman, the San Diego Chargers' Pro Bowl linebacker, was arrested early Sunday after Tequila accused him of choking and throwing her to the ground while she was trying to leave his suburban San Diego home. Tequila signed a citizen's arrest warrant accusing Merriman of battery and false imprisonment. Both are felonies. Tequila was hospitalized briefly and filed a citizen's complaint against Merriman. No charges have been filed.
Merriman contends he was protecting Tequila, who he says was drinking and intended to drive home. "At the time, I was concerned about her welfare given the intoxicated state she appeared to be in and I encouraged her to stay until safe transportation could be provided," he said in a statement.
Merriman also said in a statement that he wants to clear "his name" and "put this behind me so I can continue to focus on a successful season for the San Diego Chargers."
Tequila, whose real name is Tila Nguyen, has denied Merriman's claims that she was drunk at the time of the incident.
San Diego County spokesman Paul Levikow said the DA's office can reject the accusations, or can refer them to the San Diego City Attorney's Office for consideration as misdemeanors.
The tweet from Tequila's account that said she would meet with the district attorney, which is verified by Twitter but is not guaranteed to have been written by her, was part of a string of tweets Thursday morning. She started by writing: "I will never be a VICTIM of anything. So when someone lays a hand on me then lies. Its on." She followed that up with more than 30 updates in the next hour, including accusing Merriman of lying in his statements to the media about her.
"Damage control. Blame Tila. Make her look bad. Send it out to the media so they don't [sic] believe her! Quick! Cover it up!" she wrote, according to the Twitter feed.
Later Thursday, some of the tweets were deleted from Tequila's page, including one saying she would meet with the district attorney.
Tequila's attorney, Alan Gutman, said earlier this week that Merriman is making personal attacks against her to spin coverage from his "illegal and indefensible actions."
"It is never justifiable to brutally assault, choke, strike and imprison a woman," Gutman said in a statement Tuesday night. "Once the truth is fully revealed, Mr. Merriman's fantastic story of how he was trying to keep Ms. Tequila safe will be completely discredited. No one, especially a woman, should ever have to endure what Mr. Merriman did to Tila Tequila."
San Diego Chargers’ Shawne Merriman says he didn’t harm MTV’s TequilaForlan agrees extension
