On Friday, Casey White, an attorney hired by Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald in defense of a recent assault claim based on activity at a Pittsburgh-area nightclub points to video evidence that exonerates his client.
Todd J. Hollis, attorney for De’Vincent Spriggs, the man who accused Donald of assault, filed a criminal complaint against Donald, based on Spriggs’ accusation that Donald and others physically assaulted him.
White told ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry that Spriggs swung a bottle at Donald that grazed Donald as he ducked, and at that point, other people stepped in to break up the altercation.
“As he ducks, somebody from behind grabs him to stop him from interacting from this guy, Mr. Spriggs, so he holds Aaron back in a sense,” White said. “At that point, that’s when other people come to Aaron’s aid and defend him by removing, so to speak, Mr. Spriggs from the area where he is punched and he is fighting, it’s a mutual fight at this point between other individuals who Aaron does not really know.
“Aaron actually runs over to his [Mr. Spriggs] aid and starts pulling people off of this guy. He’s trying to get these kids off Spriggs, he gets at least two or three people off of Spriggs and at that point in time, somebody grabs Aaron and says, ‘This is not a good situation, let’s get the heck out of here.'”
White said that he has obtained witness accounts from five people who said that Donald helped pull people away from Spriggs.
Cara Sapida of Pittsburgh television station WPXI recently posted this video of the incident.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Surveillance video appears to show #NFL star Aaron Donald run over and try to break up assault. I just talked to Donald’s lawyer who says his client came to the rescue. #WPXI pic.twitter.com/0sXKjrMJs9
— Cara Sapida (@WPXICara) April 16, 2021
Hollis claims that Spriggs incidentally bumped into Donald, causing an incident in the club that resulted in both parties being asked to leave.
Donald is a Pittsburgh native who went to Pitt and frequently trains in the Pittsburgh area in the off-season.
