Victor Blackwell arrested on suspicion of domestic violence

Former USC football player Victor Blackwell was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of domestic violence.

Campus public safety officers responded to a call from the University Gateway Apartments at 6:21 p.m., according to a report on the incident. They interviewed a woman who said she was Blackwell’s girlfriend. She said she had been punched several times in the face during an argument and that her boyfriend also threw a chair at her.

The woman also told officers that her boyfriend smashed her computer and cellphone on the floor and punched several holes in a door when she retreated to her bedroom and closed it, according to an entry on USC’s Department of Public Safety website.

Blackwell, 21, was booked at the Los Angeles Police Dept.’s 77th Street Division station with bail set at $50,000, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department website said.

He could be charged with a felony.

On Thursday morning, USC Coach Steve Sarkisian had announced to reporters that Blackwell, who had been absent from practice for several weeks, had been eliminated from the roster on Monday.

Blackwell, who is from Cerritos and played at Santa Ana Mater Dei High, caught three passes in USC’s season-opening victory over Fresno State, but he did not play in the next two games. He had been absent from practice since the Trojans returned from a Sept. 13 game at Boston College.

“The University of Southern California takes very seriously any report of violence or assault and does not tolerate any form of harassment, violence or intimidation,” Ainsley Carry, vice provost for student affairs, said in a statement released by USC. “The university is assisting the Los Angeles Police Department in its investigation of USC student Victor Blackwell. Our own student judicial process is confidential in compliance with federal privacy laws.”