Chiefs’ Willie Gay pushed ex-partner during fight, according to allegations in court records

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay Jr. allegedly pushed his ex-partner and trashed her Overland Park apartment during an altercation near their infant child just before his arrest earlier this week, new court records reveal.

Gay’s ex-partner accused him of pushing her onto a couch where their 3-month-old baby slept, hurling a vacuum across the room and hanging up on police while they were being dispatched, according a petition for a protection order she has filed in Johnson County District Court.

Gay, 23, was arrested shortly after the altercation at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and charged with criminal damage to property totaling less than $1,000. He pleaded not guilty to the charge in a virtual court hearing Thursday and was released from jail a few hours later.

The ex-partner’s petition for a protective order from Gay, approved by Judge Keven O’Grady on Friday, offers the first public details about what allegedly happened inside her apartment before Gay’s arrest.

Gay’s defense attorney Ryan Ginie denied the allegations made in the petition but declined to comment further on the case.

Details of Willie Gay Jr.’s arrest

The ex-partner, whom The Star is not naming because she alleges she is the victim of a crime, claimed she asked Gay about 9 p.m. Wednesday not to come to her apartment to see their child because the baby boy was already asleep, but Gay came anyway, court records show.

“I asked him to not wake the baby since he had been cranky all day and since he wouldn’t put him back to sleep,” the woman alleges in the petition for a protection order. “He laughed and made jokes about me being a single mother, so we started arguing.”

The woman told the court she became emotional and called a friend for help, who advised her to call the police, according to court records. She did and tried to stay on the line with dispatchers until Gay intervened, according to the petition for a protection order.

“Willie kept yelling, calling me names, and said he would be gone before the police got there,” she alleges in the petition for a protection order. “He then got angry, snatched my phone and hung up on the officer.”

The woman claimed Gay then pushed her onto the couch where their son was asleep, cracked her cell phone, knocked everything off her countertops and threw a vacuum 20 feet across the apartment, according to her petition. Gay stormed out of her apartment before police arrived.

Investigators estimated Gay allegedly caused $225 worth of property damage to the vacuum, a cellphone screen, a wall/door frame and a humidifier during the incident, according to an Overland Park police report. There were no drugs or alcohol involved in the incident and Gay’s ex-partner was not physically hurt, the police report noted.

Gay’s arrest court appearance on charge

Gay was arrested and charged with criminal property damage, a class B non-person misdemeanor, “which constitutes a domestic violence offense,” court records show.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge Thursday afternoon and both Ginie and the prosecutor noted during the hearing that Gay had no criminal history.

The temporary protective order prohibits Gay from contacting his ex-partner, and a hearing regarding the order is scheduled for Feb. 1.

Gay is scheduled to return to court at 3:30 p.m. March 2 in connection with his criminal charge.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Gay will play in Sunday’s playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, and the second-year linebacker participated in practice Friday.

“I decided he’d play. I’m not going to get into the conversations,” Reid said of Gay. “I’m not going to do that. I decided that after just hearing some of the information that I heard.”

Gay is in his second season with the Chiefs, who drafted him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. He has 48 tackles and two interceptions this season while operating as a starting linebacker.