Less than two weeks before his Sept. 22 arraignment on felony deviate sexual assault charges, Derrick Washington was arrested on suspicion of third-degree domestic assault Sunday.

A spokesman from Boone County jail confirmed police arrested the suspended football player early Sunday morning on suspicion of hitting an ex-girlfriend in the face and refusing to leave her apartment after an argument.

Washington was charged with deviate sexual assault in late August and was “permanently suspended” from the football team shortly after the arrest, but has kept his athletic scholarship.

Because the MU Police Department handled the sexual assault investigation, Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jessie Haden said she could not be sure if the victim is the same in the two cases, but said the incidents happened at different addresses.

“I think it’s a different woman,” she said.

An officer was dispatched to Grindstone Canyon Apartments at 1:22 a.m. Sunday. Washington was not at the woman’s apartment when police arrived and one of the woman’s friends had come over to lend support, Haden said.

“We made contact with the victim then,” Haden said. “She had swelling to her forehead, blood on and around her nose and on her shirt.”

The victim, 23, told police she invited Washington over, but while he was there, the two got into an argument and Washington struck her in the face, causing the injury, Haden said.

When she asked him to leave, he refused.

Police went to Washington’s home in the 3500 block of La Mesa Drive and arrested him without incident. “He said they got in an argument but denied assaulting her,” Haden said.

According to the Missouri Revised Statutes, third-degree domestic assault is a class A misdemeanor.

A spokesman for the Boone County Jail confirmed Washington had been arrested Sunday and was later released on a $1,000 bond.