PITTSBURGH — The lawyer for two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald said Friday that accusations his client assaulted a man at a Pittsburgh after-hours club are not true.
Instead, Attorney Casey White said Donald tried to stop a fight -- and that there’s surveillance video to prove it. (CLICK HERE to watch)
De’Vincent Spriggs’ attorney, Todd Hollis, claimed on Wednesday that Spriggs was attacked by Donald over the weekend after bumping into him at the Boom Boom Room on East Carson Street in the city’s South Side.
“He apologized and he thought it would escalate the matter and it didn’t,” Hollis said.
Hollis said Spriggs suffered a concussion, broken nose, broken orbital bone and possibly a broken arm during the incident.
“He (Donald) interpreted that as an aggressive action and, as you can see, it lead to his assault,” Hollis claimed.
Donald graduated from Penn Hills High School and went on to play at the University of Pittsburgh. He was an All-American while playing at Pitt and was drafted in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. He was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and is widely considered one of the greatest defensive players of all time.
Last year, Donald made a seven-figure donation to Pitt. The ground floor of the training facility was renamed the “Aaron Donald Football Performance Center.” He regularly trains in the offseason at Pitt and has been recorded using unconventional techniques, including incorporating fake knives to increase his hand speed.
A video posted to Twitter showed Donald working out in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Hollis said Spriggs, 26, is not from Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh police said just before 1 p.m. on Sunday, they were called to Mercy Hospital for a man who wished to report an assault. The unnamed man told investigators it happened at a bar on the South Side. He said he bumped into another man who ended up punching and kicking him. He admitted to throwing a bottle of alcohol, but told police he wasn’t sure if he hit anyone.
There were no 911 calls for the incident, police said.
On Wednesday, detectives said they took a complaint from a man and his attorney about an alleged assault that happened in the 1700 block of East Carson Street. They said they are reviewing any available video footage of the assault.
The Los Angeles Rams sent Channel 11 a statement saying they were “aware of the reports regarding Aaron Donald. We are collecting more information and will have no further comment at this time.”
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