So between what Courtney has said, what her mother said (to both Snook and now McMurphy) and what Zach has said the only sense I can make of the situation is as follows:
- there was an altercation in which Zach put his hands on her throat and arms to physically move her to get past. The extent of which sure sounds/looks like DV but is now he said/she said.
- Courtney tells her mom, who confronts Zach via text message. She (mother) later comes to believe that it was unintentional/self defense and backtracks on her accusatory texts to Zach.
- police are involved on numerous occasions but there is not enough evidence or imminent danger to press charges for DV (would be so so unfortunate if it comes to light that the Powell police mishandled this situation and put Courtney at further risk)..
- urban/OSU becomes aware of the situation either directly or via Shelley and others. Urban notifies Gene Smith and or compliance office who communicate with Powell police who determine there is smoke but no fire, that they have investigated the situation on numerous occasions and do not intend to take further action based on current information (the Powell police investigation/reports/information is truly the last missing piece of info along with who Urban notified).
- Urban/OSU decide to take no further action assuming Powell police due diligence and to avoid potential wrongful termination scandal. This is where the favoritism of the Earl Bruce connection really comes in to play in my mind. If it were anyone else they probably part ways regardless. But because there is a connection and maybe Urban even believed he could help the Smith family, they keep him on board.
This is how I see it having gone down. Curious what others think. I didn’t bother placing a timeline, because frankly I’m confused at this point...