Boxer Taylor freed from jail, pleads innocent in shooting

Bail bondsman Ken Gangluff (left) escorts boxer Jermain Taylor away from the Pulaski County jail on Wednesday morning in Little Rock. Taylor was arrested Tuesday night after a shooting at his home that left his cousin, Tyrone Hinton, hospitalized.
Bail bondsman Ken Gangluff (left) escorts boxer Jermain Taylor away from the Pulaski County jail on Wednesday morning in Little Rock. Taylor was arrested Tuesday night after a shooting at his home that left his cousin, Tyrone Hinton, hospitalized.

Correction: Boxer Jermain Taylor was arrested after a Tuesday night shooting at his Pulaski County home. The day of the shooting was incorrect in this article.

Former Olympic medalist and middleweight boxing champion Jermain Taylor was released on bond from the Pulaski County jail late Wednesday morning, just a few hours after his initial plea in a Tuesday night shooting.

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Taylor, 36, appeared before District Judge Wayne Gruber early Wednesday and pleaded innocent to first-degree domestic battery and aggravated assault charges stemming from a shooting that left his cousin, Tyrone Hinton, 41, hospitalized Wednesday afternoon.

Taylor, a Little Rock native who won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney before the start of a successful professional career, posted a $25,000 bond and was released.

Pulaski County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said Taylor, who plans on training in Florida for a bout in October, had to sign an extradition waiver so local law enforcement could immediately seize him should the need arise.

Taylor was arrested Tuesday evening at his 1 Vintage Drive home, a 39-acre gated residence just outside Maumelle and North Little Rock, after Pulaski County deputies responded to a 6 p.m. shooting.

According to arrest reports, Taylor told deputies that he and Hinton had "had problems ... in the past," and the cousins started arguing when Hinton went onto his property without an invitation.

Taylor told deputies that's when he went inside, grabbed a gun and then went back out and started firing, reports said.

Minden said Hinton was struck multiple times in the "lower extremities" and that Taylor handed over the weapon used in the shooting.

After the shooting, Hinton and another man fled from Taylor's residence and were met by deputies at a Dollar General store in North Little Rock, Minden said.

Hinton, who lives in Jacksonville, remained at a local hospital Wednesday, said his mother, Linda Woods, who added that her son would be headed into surgery today.

"He's up, awake and alert and oriented," Woods said. "We've been upset. But we've been praying on it and hope things work out."

Woods said that despite what was stated in police reports, there was no longstanding beef between her son and her nephew.

Hinton has been working for Taylor as an assistant trainer, Woods said, and the two are close. She said she spoke with Taylor on Wednesday and that he was very sorry and remorseful for what happened.

"They had been working that day. And they did have some words, and it ended up just tragedy," she said. "[Taylor]'s got a lot of pressure on him with the fight and other family issues, and I just told him, 'I know you don't want to hurt Tyrone,' but we both kind of agreed that they just kind of snapped."

Hinton recently completed a drug rehabilitation program after Woods tried to commit him through the courts, citing an addiction to PCP that led to erratic and dangerous behavior, Pulaski County court documents said.

Tuesday's arrest led to Taylor's first trip to jail, although he has been questioned in criminal allegations before.

In May 2012, a Mississippi woman called police to a Maumelle hotel and said she had been injured after an altercation with Taylor.

Police reports showed that the woman told authorities she regularly drove to the Little Rock area to meet Taylor and that he had paid her for various sexual favors in the past. Police reports said the woman, whose name was redacted, told officers they started arguing after smoking marijuana and that she didn't remember the events that occurred afterward.

Maumelle investigators found video that showed the woman leaning over a railing and falling over. Police later noted in their investigation that the woman's story changed several times, and Taylor was not charged in the case.

Taylor was also not charged after a 2011 altercation with his mother at the intersection of Odom and Maumelle boulevards in Maumelle in which a police report said the driver's side window of her van was shattered.

Neither Taylor nor his management officials could be reached for comment. Taylor is set for an Oct. 8 fight with current International Boxing Federation champion Sam Soliman.

Taylor won the middleweight title in July 2005 and held it for two years until his defeat by Kelly Pavlik.

Concussed after a 2009 bout, Taylor took a two-year break from the sport before starting a comeback in December 2011.

As a professional fighter, he has had 32 wins, four losses and one draw.

Metro on 08/28/2014

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