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A lawyer for Aaron Donald, defense tackle Aaron Donald, said Friday he had obtained video evidence to refute the allegations Donald seriously injured DeVincent Spriggs during a fight outside a bar in Pittsburgh last weekend.
Casey White said on 93.7 The Fan (via Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that the video and several eyewitnesses indicate that Spriggs was the attacker and that Donald helped save him from being further attacked.
“He called Mr. “Spriggs actually saved from further injury,” White said. “It’s fantastic, from a lawyer’s perspective, to be honest with you.”
Todd Hollis, Spriggs’ attorney, said Wednesday he had filed a “formalized statement” with Pittsburgh police about a criminal investigation into Donald, per.
TMZ Sport.
Hollis told TMZ the incident began when his client accidentally bumped the NFL player into the club. He claims that both parties were asked to leave and that Donald became aggressive when he was outside.
Spriggs sustained a broken eye socket, broken nose, concussion injury and cuts that required 16 stitches that night. His lawyer released a photo showing an extremely swollen eye, saying his client was also dealing with ‘serious trauma’.
White said Friday he did not dispute that Spriggs was seriously injured, but that Donald “caused no problems.” The lawyer said Spriggs was aggressive towards Donald and swung a bottle at him, on which Donald was restrained by others and then helped pull people attacking Spriggs away by Batko.
“We have the observation video and at this point we have five corroborating witnesses,” White said. “And we have more coming out of the woodwork.”
He added that Donald had told him to speed up the discovery process because he “did nothing” and according to Batko had no interest in a financial settlement:
“The first thing Aaron said to me was, ‘I hired you to make it go away quickly, because I did nothing. I’m not paying anyone anything. You and I can walk to the police department and they’ll tell the “Get the video, get the witnesses, I did nothing. I just want to go to the weight room and no one should ask me about this situation, because nothing happened.”
The Rams issued a statement following the initial allegations.
“We are aware of the reports regarding Aaron Donald,” the team said. “We are gathering more information and will not comment further at this time.”
Donald, 29, is one of the NFL’s best players. He was named Defensive Player of the Year three times and has earned Pro Bowl picks in all seven of his pro seasons.
He is a resident of Pittsburgh and was a prominent linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh before being selected by the Rams in the first round of the 2014 draft.