CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Division of Police is opening an internal investigation into the response from the department to an incident involving former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, in which video showed him shoving and kicking a woman in a hotel hallway.

The police announced the investigation in a statement on the department's public records website Wednesday evening. One of the items the police want to know is how the NFL got a copy of the Feb. 10, 2018, assault report without filing a records request.

The statement said the league received a copy of the incident report in February 2018.

The Kansas City Star, citing public records, reported Tuesday that the NFL had not filed an official request for the records until Nov. 30, the day TMZ posted video of the incident on its website.

The NFL said Tuesday night, in response to that report, that it had obtained the written reports prepared by the officers who responded to the incident in February, immediately upon learning of the incident.

"We had multiple verbal conversations with Cleveland police officers and requested surveillance video immediately upon learning of the incident in February," said Brian McCarthy, vice president of communications for the NFL.

"In addition, NFL representatives also made requests for surveillance video to the hotel property," he said. "We also obtained and reviewed the material developed by the police, which included the written reports prepared by the officers who responded to the incident, and later the interviews that were recorded by body cams and the recordings of the 911 calls."

The police confirmed Wednesday that the league received the incident report in February.

"Following an internal review, it has been determined that in February 2018 a member of the Cleveland Division of Police provided a copy of the police report involving the February 10, 2018 assault incident at The 9 to a representative from the National Football League," the police said in a statement. "The report did not go through the official public records request process."