Denver Broncos outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper and his girlfriend were each arrested late Thursday night on misdemeanor domestic-violence charges.
Cooper, 28, was arrested by Parker police at 11:16 p.m. and booked into Douglas County jail at 2:38 a.m., according to jail records. Cooper’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, told The Denver Post that Cooper had obtained a personal recognizance bond, which enabled his release from custody without immediately paying bail.
Cooper appeared Friday morning in the 23rd Judicial District Court for a first appearance. He is due back in court Monday morning. Bail information for Cooper’s girlfriend — who The Post is declining to name — was not available.
“We are aware of the matter and are gathering more information,” the Broncos said in a statement provided to The Post.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Post in a statement that the league was “aware of the matter” and has been in contact with the Broncos.
Both Cooper and his girlfriend were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence, while Cooper also faces a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief from $300 to $999. His girlfriend faces an additional charge of petty criminal mischief less than $300.
According to Cooper’s arrest affidavit, a Parker police officer responded to a “domestic incident” between Cooper and his girlfriend in Parker at 8:42 p.m. Thursday. Cooper’s girlfriend confronted Cooper with allegations he was cheating on her, according to the affidavit. An altercation ensued, but Cooper and his girlfriend described it differently to police, as detailed in Cooper and his girlfriend’s separate affidavits.
“As of this report, there is no probable cause for harassment or assault charges given conflicting statements and lack of specific physical evidence,” the Parker officer wrote in Cooper’s affidavit.
Cooper’s girlfriend said she took his phone from him, threw it across the room, then went to pick it up and look through its contents. Cooper wanted his phone back and, according to his affidavit, Cooper told police he grabbed his girlfriend by her upper arms and was able to get the phone back.
When the woman again tried to take his phone, Cooper told police he “braced his neck against her neck” to prevent her from getting it, according to the affidavit. After eventually retrieving his phone, Cooper told his girlfriend that he would break her phone if she didn’t leave his apartment, he told police.
When Cooper’s girlfriend still did not leave, the Broncos player bit her phone, causing “disabling damage,” both affidavits said.
Cooper’s girlfriend, however, also told a separate officer that Cooper had “grabbed her by the neck” and held her up against the wall for approximately a minute, according to the affidavit for her arrest. Cooper’s girlfriend also said he picked her up and threw her back on the ground approximately three times, and punched the wall “next to her face.”
The officer noted in the affidavit that the marks she observed on the woman’s body were not consistent with such an assault.
“I observed a small mark on (the woman’s) neck, where she claimed Jonathan grabbed her,” the affidavit reads. “I also observed scratches on (her) arm and a small cut on her hand. These markings and scratches did not appear consistent with a larger male lifting (her) up into the air by her throat as well as repeatedly being thrown to the ground. The small mark on (the woman’s) neck did not appear to be consistent with the claim that (she) had been held up in the air by her throat by another individual.”
Cooper’s girlfriend remained in custody in the Douglas County Jail as of Friday afternoon.
Just hours before Cooper’s arrest, the five-year NFL veteran was in a helmet and gear for the Broncos’ third practice of OTAs Thursday, although he didn’t participate in any 11-on-11 team drills.
Cooper was drafted by the Broncos in the seventh round of the 2021 draft and has become one of the team’s core players. He signed a four-year contract extension worth $54 million in November 2024, recording a career-best 10.5 sacks that season and eight sacks in 2025.
“I’m still young in this league,” Cooper told reporters in late January, two days after the Broncos’ season ended with an AFC Championship loss to the Patriots. “And I still have a lot of opportunity to grow, and become an even better player. And that’s the whole focus in the offseason.”
Cooper’s attorney, Steinberg, is well-known in Colorado for high-profile defense work, including representing former Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy in a 2022 criminal case.
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