Las Vegas Aces player accused of strangling, hitting wife for over an hour, faces 9 domestic violence-related charges: police
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Las Vegas Aces player Riquna Williams is accused of hitting, kicking, and strangling her wife in a domestic violence incident that lasted an hour, according to police documents.
According to an arrest report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to Williams’ home on Tuesday, July 25, at around noon after her wife called 911. Officers found the victim who told police that she and Williams had been in a romantic relationship for approximately four years and had gotten married in September 2022.
The report stated that the victim told police that Williams has been injured and had not been playing for the team for approximately a month. She told police that for the past couple of days, Williams had been very standoffish toward her and would not spend any time with her.
According to the report, the victim told police that she texted Williams on Monday night that the two needed to take a break from each other and that the victim would go back to Florida, where the couple lives in the off-season, to spend time with her son. Williams replied “OK” but did not join the victim in bed, police said.
The victim woke up at around 2:30 a.m. on July 25 and found Williams on the couch playing video games and drinking wine. At that point, the victim began to pack her belongings so she could leave for Florida, the report stated.
The victim told police that Williams eventually came into the room and told her “not to take anything she did not pay for.” The report stated that Williams grabbed one of the suitcases, unzipped it, and threw all of the clothes on the floor.
According to the report, Williams then asked the victim where she was going, to which the victim replied, “We agreed you would let me leave?”
The report stated that the victim went to the main bedroom to find her cell phone and Williams followed her in. She then started to take things from her, including her cell phones, iPad, credit card, debit card, and ID card so “[the victim] could not leave her.”
Riquna Williams. Source: LVMPD
According to the report, Williams then began to accuse the victim of cheating on her and getting in her face, yelling at her. The victim told police that Williams grabbed her by the shirt and threw her to the ground.
The victim told police that Williams then started to choke the victim, “squeezing until she could not breathe,” according to the report.
“I’ll kill you here and walk to the jail myself!” the report said Williams told the victim.
According to the report, the victim then jumped to the other side of the bed and was trying to get away from Williams when Williams grabbed a “heavy metal plate” and “heavy candle” and told the victim that she would throw it at her if she “didn’t start talking.”
The report stated that Williams then jumped onto the bed and grabbed the victim and started punching her. The victim told police that she continued to plead with Williams to stop, but Williams kept punching her.
The victim told police that because Williams is a professional athlete and works out every day, there was no way she could overpower Williams.
According to the report, Williams at one point got off the bed, picked up the heavy objects again, and stood in the doorway, refusing to let the victim leave the bedroom. The victim told police that when she attempted to run past Williams, Williams swung the items at her head.
The report stated that the victim sat on the bed and begged Williams to stop hitting her, but Williams grabbed her and held her in a rear chokehold position and “squeezed her until she could not breathe.” The victim said she was held there for about 30 seconds.
According to the report, while holding the victim in a chokehold, Williams slid her down to the floor until she was laying on her back face up and began to choke her from the front. The report stated that when Williams let go, she began hitting the victim in the face.
The victim told police that Williams told her she was going to stay at a hotel and when she got back, the victim needed to be gone. When the victim asked Williams where she could go without her ID and credit cards, Williams told the victim that “she did not care, she just wanted [the victim] gone.”
Riquna Williams in court. Source: KLAS
According to the report, the victim told police that the violence lasted for around an hour.
The victim told police that she laid down for a while, but at around 9 a.m., Williams came back and began to argue with the victim about things she had found on her phone. The report stated that Williams started hitting and kicking the victim again and “stomped her foot on the front of [the victim’s] forehead.”
The victim told police that William then took a shower and left. According to the report, the victim then waited a few hours to build courage before going to her neighbor’s house to ask to use his phone to call a family member and then the police.
According to the report, the neighbor told police that he overheard the victim tell a family member that Williams was planning on killing [the victim] and then herself, and said “she did it again,” in reference to being hit by her wife.
Detectives took Williams into custody outside of a gym. According to the report, she asked detectives why she was being detained. She then told police that she was the victim and had been beaten up. The report stated she had asked police if she was the suspect “because [the victim] had called first.”
According to the report, Williams told police that the victim was the aggressor during the incident, but could not provide any specific details and kept changing her story.
The report stated that Williams said she had a busted lip and two black eyes, however medical staff at an area hospital told police that she “did not have injuries consistent to what she was alleging.”
Williams was arrested and taken to the Clark County Detention Center.
She faces four charges of domestic battery, three charges of domestic battery by strangulation, one charge of assault domestic violence with a deadly weapon, and one charge of coercion of domestic violence with force or threat of force.
She was released on Wednesday without having to pay bail and was ordered to stay away from the victim.
“The court does have concerns regarding the extremely violent nature of the allegations in this case, that they alleged to have occurred over an extended period of time, and that you came back as a high-risk lethality on the domestic violence report. The court does balance that, however, with your lack of any criminal history at age 33,” Las Vegas Judge Rebecca Saxe said in court.
Court records obtained by the Associated Press show that Williams was arrested in 2019 for domestic battery charges when she played for the Los Angeles Sparks. The WNBA suspended Williams for 10 games following that arrested. Those charges were dismissed in 2020.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 2 at 8:30 a.m.
The Las Vegas Aces released this statement:
“The Las Vegas Aces were made aware of domestic violence charges against a member of our team, Riquna Williams. As an organization, we condemn domestic violence of any kind. At this time, Riquna Williams will be precluded from participating in team activities. Our thoughts are with the parties involved in this situation. We are currently gathering more information, and as such we will not have any further comments at this time.”
Source: KLAS - 8 News Now
