Over the past weeks, we've seen women filing all sorts of lawsuits against sports stars claiming all sorts of physical abuse. Many of the suits were thrown out of court. Here is another one, we suspect, may be thrown out as well.
Anshonae Mills, a 21-year-old University of Central Florida student is suing Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes, saying he hit her in the face with a glass during an argument at an Orlando nightclub on March 7 and then offered to pay her so she wouldn't press charges. Anshonae was supposed to appear at a press conference yesterday, but she skipped it -- supposedly after new details emerged.
According to the Orlando Sentinel:
Mills and a group of friends were in the VIP section at Rain Nightclub on Kirkman Road around 2 a.m. when Holmes, a former Super Bowl MVP, attacked her. Mills was sitting on the arm of a couch in the VIP section while speaking with her friend, when Holmes approached her and told her to "get up." When she refused to move, Holmes started "yelling and waving his arms" in front of Mills. She grabbed his hand to prevent him from hitting her. Holmes yanked his hand away and the two began arguing. Other patrons at the club who saw the spat intervened to keep Holmes from grabbing Mills, the suit states. While the two were separated, Holmes threw his drink, glass cup included, at Mills' face. She was hit on the right side of her face and cut near her eye. Security officers at the club took Mills out of the club because she was injured. Once outside, Mills talked to Orlando police officers and requested that they arrest Holmes for attacking her. That's when Holmes told Mills that he "was an NFL football player and could not face criminal charges," and then "offered to give [Mills] money," the lawsuit states. Mills said she felt pressure from Holmes and Orlando police officers and gave a short, incoherent witness statement and said she did not intent to press charges.
But, the police report contradicts Anshonae's statement.
The report shows Holmes told police Mills had confronted him over a seat in the club's VIP. Holmes said Mills grabbed him by the wrist and called him a derogatory name. "A woman in the club then threw a glass striking Mills in the face," the officer said Holmes told him. "Holmes immediately denied ever touching Mills." However, police said Mills told them Holmes was responsible for tossing the glass in her face. The report also shows the two had a friendly conversation after the alleged confrontation. The officer "observed Mills smiling and rubbing Holmes[sic] face just moments after walking off together." When Mills returned, she told the officer they had resolved the matter. Mills attorney's denied that their client ever rubbed or touched Holmes' face after the incident. But police have a handwritten statement from Mills that shows she would not prosecute Holmes for his actions. "A drink was thrown in my face. I was hurt…bleeding but I refuse to prosecute the perpetrators for the incident," her statement to police shows. [The officer] wrote in the report that Mills' friends went back inside the club with the officer to identify the man who threw the glass in her face. They identified a man, who was escorted outside, but Mills told officers it was the wrong person. Mills' friends then went back inside with the officer and identified Holmes as the attacker.
According to reports, Santino offered to pay Anshonae because he was an NFL star and couldn't afford to get into trouble. She is seeking more than $15,000 in damages.
Santino was charged with abusing his child's mother in Ohio in 2006. The charges were later dropped. Those charges were later dropped. Anshonae, too, faced domestic violence charges. In 2008 she was jailed for pushing her boyfriend into a wall, but the charges were later dropped.
Update: Some people were telling Santino off on Twitter after the news of the attack broke. But, according to the folks over at Pro Football Talk, Santino told one Twitter user he "shud try finding the worst thing that you could drink n kill urself."
As you would expect, that Tweet has since been deleted.
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