Joe Mixon apologizes for punching female student in face in 2014

Oklahoma Sooners running back Joe Mixon, speaking publicly Friday for the first time since surveillance video surfaced of him punching a female student in the face in 2014, profusely apologized for the incident.

“It’s never, never OK to retaliate and hit a woman the way I did,” Mixon said. “I’m here to apologize to everybody that was affected.”

A week ago, Mixon’s attorneys released two surveillance videos that showed the punch, which fractured four bones in Amelia Molitor’s face. Mixon was charged with a misdemeanor at the time of the incident, and the university suspended him for the entire 2014 season.

Mixon issued a formal apology last month. Sooners coach Bob Stoops, who saw the surveillance video with university president David Boren and athletic director Joe Castiglione shortly after the incident, has been criticized for allowing Mixon to rejoin the team after the suspension.

Three days after incident, Mixon told police, in a videotaped interview obtained by The Oklahoman earlier this week, that that he heard a racial slur from Molitor’s male friend, but not from Molitor. And Mixon admitted that he responded with an anti-gay slur at the male friend.

Norman police detective David Freudiger told Mixon…