Posted: Thursday, April 9, 2009 9:02 pm

By TRACY SHARP

Special to The Messenger

The University of Tennessee at Martin and the Skyhawk football team have dismissed two players accused of the felony assault of a Pi Kappa Alpha student.

The university has confirmed Dontrell Miller and Roren Thomas have been dismissed.

“After following the procedures of its student judicial system, the University of Tennessee at Martin has determined that Dontrell Miller and Roren Thomas, two university students, committed a violation of the university’s Standards of Conduct by assaulting another individual on Thursday, March 26, 2009,” said Bud Grimes, director of University Relations. “Mr. Miller and Mr. Thomas are no longer students at the university nor members of the university’s football team. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits the university from providing additional information concerning this matter.”

They were dismissed in connection with an alleged incident in which 19-year-old Tyler Turner was assaulted by masked men in the parking lot of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. Witnesses told authorities that he was brutally attacked.

Turner was treated and released from Volunteer Community Hospital in Martin with a concussion and abrasions to his head the night of the incident.

According to a Martin Police Department report, three students accused in the incident confessed to their roles in the alleged ambush after being read their Miranda rights the following day.

Charges against Miller and a third man, Willie Blount, were recently upgraded from assault to aggravated assault, while Thomas is charged with criminal responsibility. All three men are scheduled to appear Wednesday in Weakley County General Sessions Court.

Miller and Thomas were both starters on the UT Martin Skyhawks football team last season and were expected to return to contribute to the team this year. Miller, a junior defensive back, was named to the Associated Press’ Football Championship Subdivision All American team in December 2008.

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Editor’s note: Tracy Sharp is managing editor of The Weakley County Press in Martin.

Published in The Messenger 4.9.09