GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs has filed a lawsuit seeking to have evidence in his battery case permanently sealed.
The lawsuit against the Hobart-Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Department was filed Wednesday in Brown County Circuit Court.
Jacobs pleaded no contest last month to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend. He was charged in late August, and the criminal complaint against him noted that a surveillance video from the camera system in their garage corroborated the woman’s statement.
That video hasn’t been released, and lawyers representing the woman filed a motion last month asking that the evidence be sealed.
Clarence Duchac, the lawyer representing Jacobs in this lawsuit, said in his complaint that Jacobs “joins and supports (the victim’s) position that the identifying, private and sensitive records associated with the underlying incident should not be publicly released.”
Shortly after Jacobs was charged, the NFL placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list, which prevents the three-time Pro Bowler from playing or practicing but allows him to keep receiving a paycheck. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday that the matter remains under review of the league's personal conduct policy and that there's no timeline on a decision.
In the complaint, Duchac says that public release of records identifying the victim or disclosing sensitive information about her “would force unwanted exposure upon her and risk revictimizing her through renewed public scrutiny.”
The complaint says the police should be prohibited from publicly releasing “descriptions, images, audio recordings, video recordings, statements, communications, or other materials” whose disclosure might threaten the woman’s “privacy, dignity, safety, emotional well-being, or ability to obtain closure.”
The complaint also notes that public sports figures have recently been targeted for robberies and other related property crimes, and that releasing the video would reveal details of the garage’s interior that might put Jacobs at risk.
"The public availability of (Jacobs’) schedule or travel information increases the risk that persons could identify periods when (Jacobs) is away from home and use released information concerning the residence, garage, access points, security arrangements, or property to target the property,” the complaint says. “Widespread public dissemination of those details would materially increase (Jacobs’) vulnerability to theft, burglary, robbery, trespass, or other targeted criminal conduct.”
Jacobs was arrested May 26, three days after police officers came to his Wisconsin home to investigate a disturbance. According to police, the woman told them that Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took her phone from her while she was on the ground.
Police said they noticed redness on her face and neck and could feel a bump on the back of her head.
Under an agreement Jacobs reached with prosecutors, the criminal damage charge against him can be dismissed in a year if he fulfills terms that include staying out of trouble, avoiding the victim in this case, submitting to supervision, completing counseling and paying restitution to the victim.
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FILE - Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs stands on the field before a preseason NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Aug. 28, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan's Upper West Side has been reveling in the company of its latest celebrities: A family of barn owls nested in a water tower atop a building near Central Park.
This is the first documented instance of barn owls nesting in Manhattan in modern history, according to one expert, and the owls have attracted nightly crowds of people in the street eager to get a glimpse of the elusive birds.
“It was, like, totally shocking,” Andrew Farnsworth, a migration ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said of the barn owls. “To the best of our knowledge, like the collective birding knowledge, there hasn’t been a nest in, you know, in Manhattan, at least in recorded history.”
Word of the barn owl family didn't get around until last week, when Elisabeth Williams, an Upper West Side resident, notified a local news outlet on Oct. 6 that she and her husband saw multiple owls at the water tower atop a building on West 75th Street close to Central Park West.
The couple had previously seen a single owl on an apartment windowsill a few days earlier and were shocked even then, Williams recalled.
“In a place like Manhattan, you normally really have to go out of your way to encounter nature,” she said. “And here it was, just sort of right outside our window.”
It's not the first time that birds have captivated New Yorkers. Residents have fallen in love with American woodcocks, who are known to stop in Midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park every year as they migrate north in early spring. After Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl died in 2024, dozens of mournful fans gathered to say goodbye to the beloved creature who flew around Manhattan and became a joy to many after someone let him out of his zoo enclosure the previous year. Then there was Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades before dying in 2023.
But barn owl sightings in New York City parks are very rare, according to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. New York is at the northern fringe of the barn owl's range and the barn owl population has declined “at an alarming rate” over time, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
“There’s lots of excitement among New Yorkers, both birders and non-birders alike, about these owls because owls really capture the attention,” said Jessica Wilson, executive director of NYC Bird Alliance. “They’re magical, they’re nocturnal, they are secretive, they’re not commonly seen, especially on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And to have this chance to see these birds is really thrilling.”
Photographers and casual onlookers have gathered on the street on a nightly basis to spot the owls.
“I’ve only seen one barn owl ever, and that was in California,” said Val Coleman, a retired New York City resident who was on the Upper West Side earlier this week trying to spot the owls. “At dusk, we hope they will come out to hunt. We hope they don’t eat poisoned rats with rodenticide in ’em.”
David Barrett, a Manhattan-based birder who runs the popular social media account, Manhattan Bird Alert, said he’s observed at least one adult barn owl and five fledglings at the water tower. He’s also seen an adult owl carrying rodents back to the water tower. There are believed to be two adult owls, and some photographers have claimed to have seen six fledglings, Barrett added.
“Having one barn owl is a rarity, but it’s not national news. Having a family, for the first time ever, breeding in Manhattan in recorded history, that’s special news,” Barrett said.
Before the recent barn owl sightings, Williams and her husband heard periodic screeching noises outside going back to early September. They initially assumed it was a bird of some kind but were skeptical when a phone app indicated the noise was from a barn owl.
Thomas Obersteiner said that he first heard bizarre screeching and wailing noises from outside one evening in mid-September. It sounded like someone was “being murdered outside,” he said.
“That lasted for two or three weeks, every night, sometimes more, sometimes less, coming from different directions,” Obersteiner added. “But I had no idea what that was.”
On multiple occasions, Obersteiner or his wife ran into their children's bedroom after mistaking the owls' screech for a child in pain, he said. It wasn't until he saw a news report that he realized that owls were making the sounds.
Farnsworth said the screech is typical of barn owls, who use it to communicate with one another. The screech is like a “horror movie kind of experience,” he said.
Obersteiner, who said his roof deck is the “probably the best location in town right now” to watch the owls, has been letting nature photographers access that perch to observe the owls “almost every night” since news of the barn owls spread. On one night last week, 20 people had gathered.
“We can’t say no because it’s so much fun and these people are so serious,” Obersteiner added. “It's beautiful.”
Williams and her husband were not bird watchers before the barn owl family moved in to the water tower. But that may change soon after their “delightful” experience.
“I think we’re about to become birders,” Williams said.
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Kelety reported from Phoenix.
An American Barn Owl sits perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
An American Barn Owl sits perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
People look at American Barn Owls sit perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side neighborhood, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
An American Barn Owl sits perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
An American Barn Owl sits perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
