An East Lansing man is recovering from numerous facial lacerations, missing teeth and a shattered jaw after being brutally beaten in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, early Saturday morning by two college basketball players.
Kyle Meagher, a 23-year-old Lansing Community College student, was severely beaten with a blunt object outside a Cabo San Lucas club where he was entertaining vacationers as an intern for Horizon Tours, said his brother, Dan Meagher.
Kyle Meagher’s jaw required eight metal pins and two metal plates to piece together.
Two star Portland State basketball players, Scott Morrison and Jeremiah Dominguez, were arrested for their alleged roles in the attack. They were later released from custody after telling police they weren’t involved in the assault, The Associated Press reported.
Dan Meagher said his brother was outside the club at around 4 a.m. Saturday when he saw Morrison and Dominguez starting a fight with another person. When Kyle Meagher approached the group to intervene, Morrison hit him in the face with a blunt instrument, Dan Meagher said.
“Kyle said before he even knew that he was getting attacked, he was out,” Dan Meagher said.
Kyle Meagher was left unconscious in the street following the assault before being picked up by a taxi driver about an hour later, his brother said.
Dan Meagher said the basketball players might have been angry at his brother for denying them access to a VIP area of the club earlier that night.
Morrison and Dominguez initially were arrested for public drinking, but one of Kyle Meagher’s acquaintances notified police that the two may also have been responsible for attacking him, The Associated Press reported.
Dan Meagher said Kyle Meagher was able to identify Morrison and Dominguez as the attackers but has little memory of anything else.
“It’s been coming back to him slowly,” Dan Meagher said. “For anyone to hit anyone with a blunt instrument in the face and just leave them there in the street … it’s ridiculous that these athletes think they can do whatever they want and have no repercussions for it.”
A spokesperson for Balboa Hospital World Class Clinic, where Kyle Meagher was treated, could not be reached for comment.
Dan Meagher said his brother was scheduled to return home at about midnight for a recovery that may take more than a year. Although he can only eat blended food for the next two months and won’t be able to eat meat for a year, Kyle Meagher is in good spirits, Dan Meagher said. The two have spoken briefly over the phone and have been sending text messages since Kyle’s Meagher’s injuries make speaking difficult.
While Kyle Meagher might seek to prosecute the two suspects, his brother said Kyle Meagher isn’t seeking vengeance.
“He doesn’t want to ruin their lives about it,” Dan Meagher said. “He wants justice, but he doesn’t want them to rot in jail in Mexico.”
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