PITTSBURGH (AP) -A judge dismissed an assault charge against Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend after witnesses said he wasn’t involved in a fight at a nightclub in March.
“There were six witnesses, and four said he wasn’t involved in the fight and two said they weren’t sure who was involved in it,” Townsend’s attorney, Robert DelGreco, told The Associated Press on Monday. “Deshea said from the beginning that he was not involved in this fight, and he wasn’t.”
After hearing from the witnesses, Pittsburgh District Judge Cathleen Bubash dismissed a simple assault charge against Townsend at the end of a preliminary hearing Monday.
The judge also delayed a preliminary hearing for Townsend’s friend, Raymond Burgess, 27, of Pittsburgh, who was also charged in the fight.
Townsend was charged after a man complained that the football player and another man punched him in the face at Margarita Mama’s, a nightclub on the city’s South Side, early on March 2.
Burgess contended the alleged victim lunged at him first and said security guards broke up the fight while Townsend was in another part of the bar.
If Burgess completes anger management classes by that time, a simple assault charge with be dismissed and Burgess will plead guilty to a summary charge of harassment, DelGreco said. The charge would carry a small fine and up to 90 days in jail.
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