Kampfer allegedly assaulted by football player

There’s been a lot of internet scuttlebutt over the past 24 hours about what happened to junior defenseman Steve Kampfer.  Some folks originally said someone from the wrestling team was involved (and other team members later got involved), some said it was someone from the football team, some said a girlfriend was involved, some said no girl involved.  The two consistencies among the stories floating around are he ended up with a busted skull and someone from another athletic team is involved.

A person I am familiar with e-mailed me yesterday and today and you can take this for what it’s worth.

The source told me yesterday that someone from the football team allegedly tackled and slammed Kampfer.  I know, insert Michigan football tackling joke here.  He said Kampfer ended up with a cracked skull and T1 vertebra and is in a head and neck brace.  This is the result of an alleged assault, not horseplay, and police are involved.

The football player under investigation is walk-on running back Mike Milano, who was also a part of the U-M wrestling team his freshman and sophomore years, which is where the wrestler/football confusion may be coming from.  This has been confirmed by The Michigan Daily’s eyewitness reports.

The source said he talked with Kampfer’s parents today and it will be six weeks minimum before his next review (NOT until he returns to the ice) and he could end up taking a redshirt and sitting out the season.

The Michigan Daily has just posted a story on the incident  According to the Daily’s eyewitness reports, Milano was accompanied by two other men, while Kampfer was with another man.  Here’s what the Daily says happened next:

According to the eyewitness, Kampfer and an unidentified friend were walking southward on Church Street when three unknown males caught up to them just past the intersection with Willard Street.

The man walking with Kampfer turned around as the group approached and said something the witness could not hear. The witness said the man walking with Kampfer appeared to be urging the three men to “relax.”

The witness said two of the men walked past Kampfer and his friend, shoving them aside, and then the third picked up Kampfer from behind and slammed him headfirst into the sidewalk. Kampfer’s friend yelled at the group, but the men continued walking south on Church Street, the witness said.

He said Kampfer wasn’t moving and appeared to be unconscious after the attack.

Other sources said they didn’t know what led to the altercation.

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“I can’t tell you that he did anything bad,” Berenson said. “He just was a victim.”