Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter was charged early Monday with assaulting a doorman at a Pittsburgh bar and a police officer who intervened, hours after the team’s wild card win over the Miami Dolphins.
The incident happened at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, following the Steelers’ 30-12 victory over the Dolphins in the opening round of the NFL playoffs.
According to a criminal complaint, officer Paul Abel was working security at another nearby bar when he was told by an off-duty officer that the doorman at The Flats on Carson Street was being threatened by a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Abel said he arrived to find the doorman refusing to let Porter — who appeared to be intoxicated — into the club.
Abel, who filed the complaint, said Porter ignored him when he asked what was going on and grabbed the doorman by the arms and lifted him off the ground. The doorman wasn’t aggressive with Porter and had his hands in his pockets, according to the complaint.
Abel said he pulled Porter away from the doorman, according to the complaint. That’s when Porter grabbed the officer’s wrists “so tightly that I could not pull them away from him, no matter how hard I tried,” the officers said in the complaint.
Porter backed away, but then refused to put his hands behind his back.
Porter eventually allowed himself to be handcuffed but yelled, “You’re lying, I never touched you,” as Abel arrested him, the complaint said.
Porter was charged with aggravated assault for his alleged contact with the officer, simple assault on the doorman, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, defiant trespass and public drunkenness. Physical contact with a police officer is automatically charged as aggravated assault in Pennsylvania, even if — in this case — the nature of the alleged conduct would constitute simple assault against a regular citizen.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Porter, who posted $25,000 bond and faces a preliminary hearing on Jan. 19 in Pittsburgh City Court.
The Steelers said in a statement that they were aware of the incident and were gathering additional information.
Porter, the Steelers’ outside linebackers coach, spent 13 seasons as a linebacker with Pittsburgh, Miami and Arizona.
The Steelers face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Treat him fair,, reprimand him with severance pay. Remember the old saying,, lead by example,, show the rest of our NFL that actions like this will not be tolerated. Game over.
Great Idea!!!
OH THAT’S OKAY, HE WAS ONLY DRUNK! PLUS THE STEELERS WON THE GAME AND THAT HAS GIVEN HIM THE RIGHT TO DO AS HE PLEASES! TYPICAL DRUNKEN THUG!
There are other words to describe him.
There are consequences to thug behavior…
Book him Dano!
Don’t worry! The NFL and the Steelers will brush this off as “boys will be boys”. No action will be taken by them and the courts will do no better.
give him 6 months in jail, let him watch the super bowl from his cell,
he is just another low class black coach who thinks he can do nothing wrong
because he is in the NFL, no much diff. than bob stoops letting Mixon play
in a bowl game, when he should still be sitting in jail, just another “tough’ footballer
who broke a young girls jaw in 5 places and then announcer named Musberger
claimed the young man deserved a 2nd chance!! really? Musberger deserves to be
retired, ASAP,! just saying
this is not a personal attack on anybody, this stuff is straight out of the media
I could care less because I won’t watch any of them. It has come down to my black thugs vs. your black thugs. They won’t get my money.
Lunacy! Do these guys ever evolve beyond High School? He should pick up highway garbage for a couple of weeks. Teach this knucklehead some humility before he really hurts someone.
Teach this knucklehead humility and self control before he really hurts someone! A couple of weeks picking up highway garbage should help this lunatic see the light.
These people need extensive jail time and then extensive counciing , along with a sizeable fine to finance the 3 years counciling and hard labor rehab that should be manditory and not
just for NFL personnel but everyone that thinks they can push people around with no
repayment
This will get swept under the rug unless the Steelers were already thinking of bouncing the couch. That’s just how it is. If you can play or coach football at the pro level, black, white or brown, you are money and money stays with the team. They are all that way, Dallas, Pittiesburg, the Gigantics, they all let the creeps play until there of no further use to the owner of the team. It sure sends a terrible message to all the black kids and white alike that as long as I can play well, I can get away with everything cause I’m a football jock and coach will make it all better. Bull S–t. Make it one bad issue and out the door. Second chances my butt. These guys didn’t just now start behaving like morons, they’ve been at it since grade-school. And Head-coaches and Deans have all been involved in cover up activity because it’s all about the money. Sport is secondary because winning is money, revenue for the schools and coaches salaries. That’s why coaches who discipline players are few and far between and out of a job come a loosing season. Look at the New England Cheatriots. Coach gets a slap on the wrist for stealing signals, taping practices and whatever else, he should be banned from coaching. And that quarterback Braidsee, they should have been forced to forfeit that game where they deflated the balls. But no, it’s all about the money and to hell with fair play. It’s all money and the Commishionary is no better than the rest of them.
I am just a small kid, 3rd position wide receiver on 5-A team in Texas, which could probably give a practice squad team a run for the money (no pun intended). However, I look to just one person in the NFL as a real player, good person, maybe gentleman, having not met him. His play indicates his dedication to his team, his owner and all of
the Dallas Cowboys fans (finally here, right). I want make you guess, as I enjoy watching Cole Beasley, a small player in a big man’s game.. Stay at heart all you misbeliever’s; these guys are worth the money and we in the United States, well most of “us” other players at some level in life, enjoy these “thugs’ and I wish personally I was
an NFL thug. I could make a difference, by the way, a small “white” kid. Have a Great Year to All.