Chris Cook charged with domestic assault; Vikings cut Bernard Berrian

Chris Cook is facing a felony charge for his alleged attack.

​The Christian Ponder era is off to a rocky beginning.

Vikings cornerback Chris Cook, arrested early Saturday after a domestic abuse incident, has now been charged with a felony for an assault that left his girlfriend crying and bleeding from her nose.

On the offensive side of the ball, wide receiver Bernard Berrian, who surfaced most recently to snipe at Vikings fans, including a state legislator, from his Twitter account, has been cut from the team.

But look on the bright side. Like, uh... since Saturday morning, no other Vikings player has been arrested. Well, not that we know of.

Cook's alleged freak-out on his girlfriend of 10 months began when the girlfriend contact an ex-boyfriend of hers, according to the complaint from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. Cook confronted her and threw her down on the bed, then started choking her, the complaint says.

Bernard Berrian is impossible to defend... as an employee. As a player it's not that hard.

​Cook's girlfriend told police she was able to free herself by pulling on his dreadlocks. When she stood up, Cook hit her so hard in the ear that she flew against the wall. The girlfriend ran, but Cook chased her, and, when he caught up with her, choked her again.

According to the complaint, Cook's girlfriend was found to have hemorrhaging in one of her eyes, which is indicative of  strangulation.

Whew. Well, after all that, the fact that Bernard Berrian is something of a Twitter twit doesn't seem all that bad, does it?

In fact, Berrian earned his layoff through repeated violation of team rules. Like, for example, the "don't miss all the meetings rule." Berrian was benched during Sunday's loss to the Packers, though we can assume he wandered the sidelines announcing that he was totally wide open.

Today, Berrian has been let go by the team, according to a tweet (how fitting) from NFL.com reporter Jason La Canfora.

For the felony charge of domestic assault by strangulation, Cook faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

For the misdemeanor charge of being kind of a jackass, Berrian faces a maximum sentence of getting signed by the Cleveland Browns.

And for the sin of being Vikings fans, Minnesotans are condemned to a life of hell on earth.

Previously:
Chris Cook arrested for domestic assault, won't play against Packers
The Minnesota Vikings are the NFL's most arrested team
Bernard Berrian gets in Twitter fight with Rep. John Kriesel