Raiders WR Walker hospitalized

[Walter Cronkite]

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Javon Walker was found Monday morning unconscious on the streets of Las Vegas. The apparent victim of a robbery, Walker was found by police with an orbital fracture according to the city's Fox affiliate.

Walker was taken to the Sunrise Medical Center's Trauma unit, where he was listed in fair condition, according to television station KVVU-5.

As for exactly how the talented 29-year-old received the injury is unknown, but Walker was seen at nightspot Tryst at the Wynn "spraying the crowd with some of the 15 bottles of Dom Perignon Rose champagne he ordered," according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Walker, who signed with the Raiders in the offseason, will step into the No. 1 receiver role vacated by Jerry Porter, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

A knee injury limited Walker to just eight games with the Denver Broncos in 2007. He had just 26 catches for 287 yards and zero touchdowns.

In 2006, Walker had 69 receptions for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns with Denver, bouncing back from a serious knee injury that ended his tenure with the Green Bay Packers the previous season.

A first-round pick of Green Bay in 2002, Walker blossomed in 2004 with a career-high 89 catches and 12 TD receptions.

In six seasons with the Broncos and Packers, Walker has 252 career receptions for 3,815 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Source: AP

[Sodomy]

Raiders should cut him. He has demonstrated a lack of break away speed as he was unable to outrun his assailants. He is not tough enough to go over the middlen as he was found unconcsious. Poor hands demonstrated by his lack of ability to fight back. I mean come on, I am just waiting for him to wake up and say my grand mama gave me that chain.

[Walter Cronkite]

Update: Suspect arrested in attack on Walker, suspected of felonies

One man was arrested and a second was sought Tuesday in a robbery and beating that left Oakland Raiders receiver Javon Walker unconscious on a side street after a long night of partying at Las Vegas nightclubs.

Police said Arfat Fadel, of Las Vegas, was accused of multiple felonies, including kidnapping, robbery, battery and conspiracy in a June 16 robbery. Lt. Clinton Nichols said Walker lost about $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry in the robbery.

The loot has not been recovered, he said.

"Mr. Walker was in town to have a good time, as many of our visitors to Las Vegas do," Nichols said. "As he will readily admit, he probably had a little too much to drink and he did not pick up on the clues that Mr. Fadel was someone he probably should not have been with."

Police released a booking photo of the 30-year-old Fadel and a black-and-white surveillance videotape image of the other alleged assailant who they said they believed was still in Las Vegas.

"The suspects knew who Mr. Walker was. He did not know who they were," Nichols said. "Whether they were part of his entourage or not remains to be seen."

Nichols said Walker got out of one vehicle he was riding in with friends and got into Fadels's black Range Rover with Fadel and the other man before he was assaulted and robbed.

"He willingly got in the vehicle on his own," Nichols said of the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Walker. "We're unsure why."

Nichols said during a news conference the two men were seen in some of the crowded nightclubs where Walker was shown on surveillance videotapes partying from about 9 p.m. June 15, until shortly before he was found unconscious at 7:19 a.m. the next morning about a block east of the Las Vegas Strip.

Police said Walker was hospitalized for treatment of a moderate concussion and significant facial injuries.

Walker was released by the Broncos last February and was signed by the Oakland Raiders to a six-year, $55 million deal.

The team and Walker's agent, Kennard McGuire of Richmond, Texas, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Fadel was booked on the Walker case while he was being held at the Clark County jail on unrelated kidnapping and battery domestic violence charges after an arrest Friday, jail records show.

He was due in a Las Vegas court Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear if he was represented by a lawyer, and police Sgt. John Loretto said Fadel refused interview requests.

Nichols said Fadel had a record that included "a variety of criminal charges" in California, New York, Michigan and Nevada. He did not specify the charges.

Walker "assumed these people were friendly or responsible," Nichols said, "and unfortunately, they turned out not to be."

Walker, a former first-round 2001 draft pick by the Green Bay Packers, was traded to the Denver Broncos in 2006. On New Year's Day 2007, Broncos teammate Darrent Williams died in Walker's arms in the back of a limousine after a drive-by shooting in downtown Denver.

Walker later said then-teammate Brandon Marshall and his cousin exchanged angry words with two men who confronted Williams and his group after taking offense when Marshall sprayed them with champagne.

Source: AP