Clemson baseball player no longer facing assault charges after bar fight. Here’s why
A Clemson baseball player who was involved in a bar fight last month had third-degree assault and battery charges dropped and is now available to play.
Tigers pitcher Ariston Veasey — who faced two third-degree assault and battery charges stemming from a January altercation at a popular student bar in downtown Clemson — will no longer face those charges, according to a city official.
City of Clemson prosecutor Kurt Tavernier told The State on Monday he made the decision to drop Veasey’s assault charges after speaking with one of the alleged victims and reviewing multiple videos of the altercation, in which Veasey allegedly fought with and punched two staff members of the bar ROAR.
The incident occurred around 1:31 a.m. on Jan. 11, a month before Clemson’s 2026 baseball season started. Veasey, an Alabama transfer, didn’t pitch for the Tigers during the first two weeks of the season due to his arrest but is available to pitch in games starting this week, according to a team spokesman.
No. 15 Clemson hosts Presbyterian at home Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and has its three-game series with rival South Carolina this weekend.
Veasey is considered a depth option for Clemson. The news of his assault charges being dropped was first reported by TigerNet’s David Hood.
Veasey, 20, was also facing misdemeanor charges for public disorderly conduct and using a fake ID. Tavernier said Veasey has agreed to a “conditional discharge,” a common legal process. Veasey’s two assault charges and his fake ID charges have been dropped, and his public disorderly conduct charge will be dismissed if he completes community service and stays out of trouble for six months.
Veasey was eligible to participate in pre-trial intervention (PTI) as a first-time offender to expunge his charges, but the pitcher instead opted for a conditional discharge that features roughly 48-60 hours of community service, which Tavernier is “more than double” what a regular student would face in a similar situation.
Tavernier — who offered a similar deal to former Clemson basketball/football player Ian Schieffelin after Schieffelin’s prominent DUI arrest last August — said Veasey’s elevated community service commitment was reflective of his athlete status.
“His terms are far more excessive than if he was a student or individual defendant,” Tavernier said of Veasey. “Because of his, for lack of a better word, celebrity, you can’t act like that. There’s a consequence. … He willingly acknowledged he was in the wrong and was very remorseful.”
Prosecutor: Videos showed multiple people ‘at fault’
ROAR, the downtown Clemson bar where the incident happened, said in a statement Veasey was “confronted by staff” the night of the incident after “engaging in inappropriate behavior.” Veasey allegedly punched a staff member as well as a manager, according to the bar and a City of Clemson police report.
After reviewing multiple video angles of the altercation from the bar and third parties, though, Tavernier said he determined there were multiple parties at fault. The city prosecutor declined to say who exactly started the fight.
A police report from the incident said another male bar customer was involved in the incident (along with Veasey and the two bar staff members) and was pinning Veasey down in the parking lot behind ROAR when police arrived.
“It was my understanding that, at one point, it was three on one,” Tavernier said, referring to three people fighting Veasey at once.
But the details of the fight were only a “minor part” of Tavernier’s decision, he said. He said Veasey was still the most culpable among those involved in the bar fight at ROAR, “since he was underage and shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
All parties ‘in agreement’ on lesser charge
Tavernier said he spoke with Veasey, Veasey’s father, Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich and one of the alleged victims about his decision to drop Veasey’s assault charges and all parties were “in agreement” with the outcome.
Veasey will be under court supervision for six months, and if he stays out of trouble while completing his required community service hours, the publicly disorderly conduct charge (his only remaining charge) will be dismissed and expunged.
“I evaluated everything. … based upon my assessment, there were (multiple) at-fault parties,” Tavernier said, adding of Veasey: “It was poor judgment. I was a boy once. I’ve got three boys. You do things that you regret and don’t ordinarily do.”
Bakich, Clemson’s coach, expressed his support for Veasey earlier this month.
“That’s one of those situations where a really good kid makes a bad decision for five seconds and it just has a ripple effect,” Bakich said Feb. 10. “But he’s a great kid and an extremely hard worker, and we’re going to see him out here competing for Clemson sooner rather than later.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Clemson baseball player no longer facing assault charges after bar fight. Here’s why."
