Rashod Bateman had fought the cycle of domestic violence. Now he’s accused of it.

That November day was a celebration of sisterhood, and dozens of Baltimore women had come to rise above the abuse and violence in their pasts.

They got pedicures, facials, massages. The catered, Southern-style meal was delicious. Each survivor received a white rose from none other than Rashod Bateman of the Baltimore Ravens.

His nonprofit Without You Foundation paid for the day, part of his charity that focuses on mental health and community empowerment.

Caring for women who have been abused is a personal mission for Bateman. The wide receiver has spoken publicly about his experience as a boy watching his stepfather beat his mother. He’s championed the women of Baltimore who suffered just like her.

So the recent news landed particularly hard on those at Marian House and Baltimore’s other shelters for victims of abuse and domestic violence. Bateman, 26, has been charged in Georgia with misdemeanor battery, reckless conduct and property damage over an alleged fight with the mother of his child.

“I was shocked to hear the news of his arrest,” said Katie Allston, who met Bateman while serving as director of Marian House.

Marissa Crumley, the mother of Bateman’s infant daughter, told officers that, around 3:30 a.m. on June 3, Bateman woke her up, called her a liar and pushed her into a wall. Hours later, he stabbed her car tire with a screwdriver and smashed the windshield, according to a police report. Officers wrote that they observed cuts on her face and glass shards embedded in her skin. News of Bateman’s arrest and subsequent charges became public in late August.

Crumley, who gave The Banner permission to use her name, now says she lied to police and caused her own injuries. Bateman has not publicly addressed his arrest. The Ravens have called it a private matter, and the NFL is reviewing the situation.

With the Ravens’ season opener Sept. 13, it’s unclear whether the matter will impact Bateman’s availability. The league’s investigations into potential policy violations can take months, and sometimes longer, to complete. The NFL can impose discipline even without a criminal conviction, and a finding of family violence under its personal conduct policy could result in a multigame suspension.

The legal charges against Bateman echo the trauma he has described from his childhood. Bateman and his mother, Shonda Cromer, opened up about their past in a series of interviews with The Banner this year before his arrest.

Cromer remarried when Bateman was a toddler. The man who seemed like “every girl’s dream” turned to heavy drinking, she said. Bateman said his stepfather would lash out, yelling and hitting his mom.

Violent episodes continued on and off for years, even as Bateman, the youngest of her three children, reached middle school, he said. His mother endured the marriage to protect her kids, she said.

Of course, Bateman couldn’t move in with his dad. He had to be there to step in.

“I know for sure, if I had left my mom, she’d probably be dead today, because the stuff that I witnessed,” Bateman said. “If I wasn’t here to just knock on the door, scream, boom, whatever the case may be, who the hell would have been here?”

One day, he recalled, he was terrified that his stepfather would actually kill her. Bateman remembers his stepfather choking his mother before the young Rashod broke them up, then he ran to his grandmother’s house for help. He doesn’t remember who called 911, but that day would change everything.

His stepfather pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, family violence, in state court of Tifton, Georgia, in April 2014. He was sentenced to a year of probation, according to court records.

With her marriage over after the arrest, Cromer was left alone to support her sons. She would skip meals to stretch their groceries.

“I struggled a lot, especially trying to take care of three boys by myself‚” she said. “I didn’t have a good-paying job. It had gotten to the point where sometimes I was moving from place to place.”

Bateman came to see football as his escape from the small, poor town of Tifton. Overlooked by most colleges, he seized his first major scholarship offer. It was a place far away where he could reinvent himself: Minnesota. And, when he became a first-round draft pick three years later, Bateman suddenly had the money to lift his family out of hardship with a four-year, $12.6 million contract.

His five seasons in the NFL have been filled with struggle and promise. Season-ending Lisfranc surgery on his foot cut short his second year. His breakout came in 2024 with 45 catches for 756 yards, the second most on the team. That year, Bateman scored nine touchdowns.

The Ravens signed him to a three-year contract extension ahead of the 2025 season. However, his production plunged to career lows as he struggled with injuries and inconsistency. Heading into this season, Bateman expressed excitement about his role in new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle’s system.

Now his off-the-field trouble casts a shadow over the beginning of his football season.

In Baltimore, Allston leads the domestic violence shelter and counseling center House of Ruth Maryland. Speaking generally, she said the harm from a violent relationship is not limited to the adults in the home.

“It ripples through the whole family, including children who grow up around it and carry that impact forward,” she said. “At House of Ruth Maryland, we see every day how much healing an entire family can need, not just the survivor.”

Research shows children who witness violence between parents may be at a greater risk of being violent in their own adult relationships. One theory for this pattern is known as “social learning,” said Judy Postmus, dean of the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Postmus founded the Center on Violence Against Women and Children at Rutgers University and has worked on domestic violence issues for decades. Without commenting on the allegations against Bateman, she spoke generally about social learning theory.

“There’s a greater association that, if you experience it as a child, you’re more likely to repeat those behaviors,” she said. “From your family growing up, you learn how to interact with people.”

Still, Postmus recognizes not everyone follows the pattern. “It isn’t a foregone conclusion; it’s a risk factor.”

Bateman and Crumley had a daughter in February and lived together outside Atlanta. She initially told police he had woken her up before dawn on June 3 and pushed her into a wall, likely causing one of the bruises on her face, police wrote.

Afterward, Bateman told her to leave and went to sleep, so she packed suitcases, took their 3-month-old daughter and drove off, she told officers.

“Mr. Bateman began repeatedly calling and texting her. He threatened to put her dog out on the street, prompting her to answer,” officers wrote in the report. “He expressed frustration that he did not get to say goodbye to his daughter, and the two agreed to meet.”

They met outside a pizza shop in nearby Monroe, Georgia. Bateman was driven there by their driver, according to the police report.

“She advised that he had a screwdriver and began trying to pop her driver’s side rear tire with it,” police wrote. “He then, likely using the same screwdriver, repeatedly struck her windshield.”

Officers wrote that he shattered the driver’s-side window and busted a hole in the windshield before heading off. Bateman was later charged by police and posted bond.

Five days later, Crumley sent an email to the Walton County district attorney with a different explanation for her injuries.

“I want to make it clear that the bruises and marks on me were self inflicted and created by me out of emotion and frustration,” she wrote.

She loved Bateman, she wrote. “He did not cause those injuries or physically harm me in any way.”

An attorney for Bateman shared her email with reporters after the news broke of the domestic violence case. The attorney also arranged a brief phone call among himself, The Banner and Crumley.

She confirmed the authenticity of the email and said she was not promised anything in exchange for recanting. In the copy shared with reporters, portions of her email were redacted. Those redactions included things like her personal email address, but Crumley declined to answer The Banner’s questions about the content of the other redactions.

Crumley said in her email that she was upset and acting out.

“Of course couples argue and what not but we are never violent toward each other. We love each other dearly and don’t want to be apart.”

District Attorney W. Cliff Howard declined to comment on the matter. His office has not indicated in court records if prosecutors intend to proceed with the case after receiving Crumley’s email. A trial has not been set, and there are no hearings scheduled.

Banner reporter Giana Han contributed to this article.