Girlfriend of College Basketball Player Denies Beating

Kyle Vinales was arrested after his girlfriend, Mariam Mena, called police to report that he hit her on the drive home from dinner after an argument escalated, according to police

The girlfriend of a Central Connecticut State University basketball star suspended after his arrest on domestic violence charges said that she lied about the incident and is asking the school and team to take him back.

Kyle Vinales was arrested after his girlfriend, Mariam Mena, 22, called police to report that he hit her on the drive home from dinner after an argument escalated, according to police. She told police that he "punched her on the forehead" and "squeezed hard, causing her pain." The incident reportedly happened on Oct. 23, according to the police report.

But now Mena is coming forward to say she made the whole thing up and that Vinales didn't hit her at all.

“He’s in trouble and he’s losing everything, for something that’s my fault," she said. “No one should be going through so much scrutiny for something that isn’t true. He didn’t beat me. He didn’t hurt me.”

She referred to Vinales as "the victim," stating that "everyone is making me seem – I made me seem like the victim."

In the police report, Vinales said that Mena pulled their car over on Ella Grasso Boulevard and hit him in the chest and the face, but officers didn't find any marks on him to corroborate that and she wasn't arrested.

Now Mena is calling herself the instigator.

“I was the one who was yelling, I was cursing. I was the one who pulled over the car. I was the one who was hitting his face," she said.

Mena said she called police upset after the argument, crying hysterically, and wanted Vinales to "face the consequences" and "wanted him to get in trouble" for past incidents when he had called 911.

Vinales told investigators that he shoved Mena's face against the car window, police said in the incident report. But he told NBC Connecticut on Wednesday that he never hit his girlfriend and that he did what he could to diffuse the argument.

"I did not hit her. I did not punch her. I tried to get out of the situation and walked away," Vinales said, adding that all he wants is to get back to school and basketball as soon as he can.

Mena had a mark on her face after the dispute and told police it came from Vinales hitting her. But now she is saying that she actually got the injury in a car accident after the argument.

“I had slammed on my brakes so hard and I was going to merge left because I saw it last minute, and I hit my head on the steering wheel and that was that," she said. "You know what I mean? And obviously the cop asked me, ‘Oh is that from him?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’ out of anger.”

Mena said that she never intended to "take something so small and create something so big and destroy something so important."

"I felt like if I had just went home [sic] and cried it out, and was just thinking about the situation, I would have never ended up making it so much bigger than it was," Mena said, adding that her emotions made her more "dramatic" and sparked her to "say things that weren't true just to try to get him in trouble, but I didn't think it would come out to something this dramatic."

She said that she is sorry for everything Vinales and the CCSU Blue Devils are going through in the wake of his arrest.

“He is an amazing guy. He didn’t do anything wrong, and I just pray that the school can accept him to become a Blue Devil again," she said.

CCSU officials declined to comment on what this new development could mean for Vinales and police said the investigation is ongoing. Vinales was charged with disorderly conduct and third-degree assault after the reported incident, according to the state judicial website

The court is awaiting Vinales' disposition and he has been referred to a family relations officer, according to the state judicial website. He is due in court again on Dec. 5.

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