Reuben Foster's ex-girlfriend recounts incident that led to his arrest, 49ers release

The Washington Redskins have said Reuben Foster is not guaranteed to play for them, despite them picking him up following his arrest and release from the San Francisco 49ers.

If the Redskins keep Foster, they’ll have to either ignore or discount the troubling claims from Foster’s ex-girlfriend, which she shared Thursday on “Good Morning America.”

Elissa Ennis, 28, appeared on the ABC show and said Foster paid for her to come to Tampa to work on their relationship. But they argued and that allegedly became physical. Foster was seeing other people, and Ennis told “GMA” that the fight was triggered when Ennis told him she was going to tell his new girlfriend that he paid for her flight to Florida. According to a criminal report affidavit obtained by ABC News, Foster allegedly slapped Ennis’ “phone out of her hand, pushed her in the chest area and slapped her with an open hand on the right side of her face.” Ennis told “Good Morning America” she suffered a concussion from the slap.

“GMA” showed photos of bruises on Ennis’ neck/collarbone and on the side of her face, which Ennis said came from Foster’s abuse in the Tampa hotel.

“We both were seeing therapists and stuff, trying to work on our relationship,” Ennis said, according to “GMA.” “So I was like, ‘I can’t believe you — you’re back to doing this.'”

Reuben Foster’s ex-girlfriend claims multiple abuse incidents

This wasn’t the first time Foster had gotten physical with Ennis, she told “Good Morning America.” Ennis said Foster had been physical with her three times before. Twice she called police and in October her neighbors called, she said.

Foster was arrested in February. He was accused of dragging Ennis and punching her in the head multiple times. Among Ennis’ injuries was a ruptured eardrum.

Ennis later recanted her story, saying she made it up for money, which allowed Foster to avoid charges based on insufficient evidence. Foster was suspended two games by the NFL on a gun charge that came from that incident, but wasn’t suspended for a domestic violence incident.

But on “Good Morning America,” Ennis said she was not telling the truth when she recanted her story. Ennis said that in February, “Reuben threw my clothes off the balcony, he threw my stuff out the house, he dragged me down the stairs two, three times, he punched me in my face two, three times, he pulled me by my hair, kicked me, spit on me.”

Ennis said she recanted the story, “Because I loved him, and love will have you doing things that’s not in your best interests.” She told “Good Morning America” her family advised her to not recant the story.

“I did what I had to do for the person I love,” Ennis said. “I thought that he would change.”

The 49ers didn’t cut Foster at the time. But they would after the incident at the team hotel in Tampa, the day before a game against the Buccaneers.

Foster’s ex-girlfriend was shocked when Redskins claimed him

Ennis said when the Redskins claimed Foster it felt like another “slap in the face.”

“When he got signed I was like, I can’t believe somebody picked him up,” Ennis said. “I just couldn’t believe somebody picked him up in less than, how many hours? I was shocked.”

On “Monday Night Football” this week, during a Redskins-Eagles game, ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported that team president Bruce Allen said the Redskins did their own investigation into what happened and there’s more to the story than has been reported.

Ennis broke down during the interview, and was crying when she was asked if she still loved Foster.

“I’ve been getting help and stuff like that,” Ennis said. “This is not love.”

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @YahooSchwab

Subscribe to The Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast
Apple Podcasts• Stitcher • Google Podcasts

More from Yahoo Sports:
• NFL scolded by Cowboys’ Elliott for Salvation Army fine
• Cleveland police add new wrinkle to Kareem Hunt case
• Chiefs love how QB addressed Hunt scandal
• Bus carrying HS hoops team in fatal wrong-way collision