I suspect most of us, at some point in our lives, have had a female companion with an excessive need for attention, often exacerbated by slight over-indulgence in alcohol. What is needed is a place of her own, preferably with a lock on the outside. Failing that, we have to be able to restrain an occasional physical attack without undue force. Unfortunately for some of us, we may find ourselves in a likewise state of slight over-indulgence, and if our companion is a large, strong person, we may encounter an exchange of bruises, scrapes, and scratches.
Honestly, I believe his initial statement was probably pretty damned close to the truth, namely that he was reading something, she demanded attention, he failed to respond and kept reading, she snatched (so to speak) his reading glasses from his face and broke them, which pushed him over the edge, A few slaps were exchanged, she called 911 (often a Bad Idea absent a life-and-death situation). One of the responding officers told her they could arrest him if she was - oh, I dunno, being strangled? She went with that, the cops pretended to believe it, and here we are.
I still feel that Beard could have salvaged things by apologizing most sincerelyto Randi, the fans, his players, the school... errybody. And then seeking and performing anger management training.
But he didn't.
And here we are.