Updated February 24, 2000, 9:46 a.m. ET
Tonya Harding pleads not guilty to beating boyfriend
CAMAS, Wash. (AP) Former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding is under orders to stay away from booze and her boyfriend. She pleaded not guilty to a charge of domestic violence assault and is free without bail. She could be jailed and fined if convicted of punching the man and throwing a hubcap at him.
Harding, 29, was booked Tuesday night for investigation of
fourth-degree domestic violence assault after an altercation that
left Darren Silver's face bruised and bloodied, Camas police said.
Police said Harding and Silver, 28, have lived together for
about three years and both apparently had been drinking when they
started fighting Tuesday night in a barn behind their house.
In a recording of the 911 call released Wednesday by police, a
male voice says: "I want to find out the rules, if we'd both go to
jail or not, because my girlfriend is beating the ... out of me."
Later, a female voice says: "I punched him in the face because
he came after me, he put me to the ground." In the background, a
male voice can be heard yelling: "I did not! You are a liar! You
are a liar! You are a felon and I have nothing to hide!"
Harding was banned for life from amateur figure skating stemming
from her role in the knee-whacking of rival Nancy Kerrigan in 1994.
She pleaded guilty to covering up for her former husband and his
friends, who had hatched a plot to injure Kerrigan.
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