LA Rams Aaron Donald facing troubling allegations

Three words that almost always spell trouble for an NFL player: early morning hours. If it’s quickly followed up by three other dreaded words – after-hours club, well, now you’re swimming in the deep end of the trouble-pool. And for the LA Rams, this is anything but good news.

Comes news out of Pittsburgh this Wednesday morning that LA Rams’ defensive lineman Aaron Donald and others accompanying him are being accused of assaulting a 26-year-old man in the early-morning hours of April 11th at an after-hours club last weekend, and causing multiple injuries. The man, DeVincent Spriggs,  alleged that he suffered injuries at the hands of Donald and others.

From AP News:

"“Pittsburgh Attorney Todd J. Hollis said his client, De’Vincent Spriggs, needed 16 stitches and suffered a broken orbital bone in his head, a broken nose, and a sprained or broken arm at a bar on East Carson Street in the city’s South Side” Hollis further elaborated “We believe there was a misunderstanding that Mr. Spriggs bumped into Mr. Donald and Mr. Donald escalated the matter, leading to my client’s assault moments later,” – Hollis said.- according to the Associated Press."

According to Hollis, both men were asked to leave the club, but when Spriggs attempted to walk away, Donald and his friends attacked him.

Hollis said that Donald and his friends kicked and punched his client outside the club. Only a friend of Spriggs jumping in and covering Spriggs with his body prevented the injuries from being even worse, Hollis said.

“Mr. Spriggs is a relatively big man,” Hollis said. “Had it been a smaller man, he could have been killed.”

Hollis and Spriggs have filed a criminal complaint against Donald with Pittsburgh police on Wednesday morning.

The Rams have issued a statement stating they are aware of the matter and are collecting information, with no further comment at this time.

Donald has not yet responded to the allegations.

All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald, who is a Pittsburgh native, played his college ball at the University of Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Rams with the 13th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year last year, an award he has won three times.