A lawyer representing the Giants’ DeAndre Baker announced on Saturday that the defensive back had turned himself in to Broward County authorities on felony charges stemming from an alleged stick-up at a house party Wednesday night.
Baker faces four counts of armed robbery with a firearm, and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. On Thursday, Miramar (Fla.) Police released a statement naming Baker and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar as suspects in the armed robbery of $70,000 in cash and watches from four victims of a party in suburban Miami.
Baker’s attorney Bradford Cohen, in an Instagram post, confirmed that Baker turned himself in.
“We believe our client is innocent of all charges,” Cohen said. “We urge people not to rush to judgment. We have affidavits from several witnesses that exonerate my client.”
Cohen said he plans to present those affidavits, along with video evidence, to the judge at another time.
Dunbar’s attorney, Michael Grieco, said on Friday that he, too, had an affidavit, signed by five people, claiming that affidavit would exonerate Dunbar of the four counts of armed robbery with a firearm that he faces.
Dunbar has not yet turned himself in to police.
The signatories to the affidavit weren’t random passers-by, Grieco told Deadspin Friday night.
“They’re not just witnesses — they’re the alleged victims,” he said.
Grieco, a Miami-based attorney, said the same four victims and one eyewitness, who reported to cops early Thursday morning that Dunbar had participated in swiping cash and expensive watches, “walked into my office” with an entirely different account than they had given authorities.
Grieco refused to share a copy of the affidavit with Deadspin, but read aloud what he said were excerpts from the document.
“Mr. Dunbar did not directly or indirectly participate in any robbery, or assist in collecting any valuables, at the scene or elsewhere,” read one line of the signed statement, according to Grieco.
“Any robbery or assault with or without a firearm did not involve Mr. Dunbar,” read another line, Grieco said.
The five people who signed the affidavit had told a vastly different story early Thursday morning, according to police. One person at the scene previously claimed Dunbar had been an armed participant in the robbery, with others reporting that he had been unarmed, but was involved in the fray.
The police tagged the Seahawks and Giants in a tweet about the incident, which drew outrage from Dunbar’s attorney.
The authorities are standing by this version of events.
“We have taped, sworn statements under oath from four victims and one witness,” Miramar media relations officer Tania Rues told Deadspin. “No one has come in to make a new statement. So the warrant stands.”
“Nobody is running from this,” Grieco told ESPN. “My client is innocent. I don’t want him to do a minute in jail for this. If we decide that he will turn himself in, then he will do so. But Miramar Police Department is pot-committed to this case because it has become public.”
Grieco said he has been in contact with Cohen but that there are a “different set of circumstances” with Baker than with Dunbar.
The police tagged the Seahawks and Giants in a tweet about the incident, which drew outrage from Dunbar’s attorney.
“I have never in my career seen a police department so excited about arresting a celebrity,” Grieco told the Miami Herald.
This continues to be a developing story.
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