Police: Fla. woman suing Steelers receiver Holmes over alleged assault wants to press charges

Police: Fla. woman wants charges against Holmes

MIAMI, Fla. — A Florida woman who sued Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes over an alleged assault now wants to press charges, police said Friday.

Anshonae Mills, 21, filed a lawsuit March 24 claiming Holmes grabbed her face and threw a glass at her March 7 in an Orlando nightclub, cutting her above the eye. In the lawsuit, she said Holmes and a police officer intimidated her so she wouldn’t press charges.

Mills changed her mind, and the case has been reopened, Orlando police Sgt. Barbara Jones said in an e-mail Friday.

Jones did not release more information about the investigation.

Mills’ attorney did not immediately return phone or e-mail messages.

Holmes has denied hurting Mills. According to a police report, he told an officer that Mills grabbed his wrist and called him a racial name, and then another woman threw the glass that hit Mills in the face.

“Anything my client told the police we stand by, and we are going to continue to investigate the case,” Holmes’ attorney, Adam Swickle, said.

Mills had a quarter-inch abrasion above her right eye but refused medical attention, the police report said.

In the report released Tuesday, officer Damon Barnes said he told Holmes and Mills that, with their conflicting statements and no independent witnesses, he planned to file charges against Holmes.

Mills then asked the officer if she could speak to Holmes alone, according to the report. Barnes wrote that he saw Mills smiling and rubbing Holmes’ face. Mills then told Barnes that she didn’t want to press charges or “get Holmes into trouble,” the report said.

Steelers president Art Rooney II has said the team is “disappointed” by the allegations made in Mills’ lawsuit. Rooney said he would have no further comment until the team gathered more information.