AUSTIN, Texas — Bengals running back Cedric Benson was arrested Tuesday and charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching a bar employee in the face nearly a month ago.
Benson was booked into the Travis County jail, where he later posted $5,000 bail and was released. The charge of assault with injury carries a maximum potential penalty of up to $4,000 in fines and up to a year in jail.
According to the Austin police arrest affidavit, Benson was at Annie’s West bar on May 30 when he got into an altercation with another, unknown bar patron that left him spitting blood from a cut lip. After staff intervened, witnesses told police Benson shoved a bar worker and was verbally abusive.
Benson’s attorney, Sam Bassett, said his client “looks forward to telling his side of the story at the appropriate time.”
Bengals spokesman P.J. Combs said the team was aware of the incident but said it was “inappropriate for us to comment until the matter is resolved through legal channels.”
The arrest is just the latest brush with the law for Benson, and it could draw a suspension from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Steelers’ Colon undergoing Achilles surgery
PITTSBURGH — Steelers offensive tackle Willie Colon will have surgery today to repair a torn right Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the season. Colon was injured while working out on his own at the Steelers’ practice complex on Monday.
Footnotes.
Giants rookie safety Chad Jones will be moved to a New York hospital after he was seriously injured in a car accident early Friday in New Orleans.
Jones, who was drafted by the Giants in the third round this year, is being transferred to Presbyterian Hospital for plastic surgery and additional orthopedic procedures.
Jones suffered a broken left leg and ankle after a dawn wreck in which his SUV smashed into a pole.
• The Chiefs signed fifth- round draft pick Kendrick Lewis, a defensive back from Mississippi.
The Associated Press
