Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones punched a woman after she poured beer on him when he insulted her and her friends, witnesses and a prosecutor said on Monday at his trial on an assault charge.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault stemming from the June 5 nightclub dispute. He could face up to six months in jail and a US$1,000 fine if convicted by the Hamilton County Municipal Court judge.
Jones’ attorney said in opening statements that Jones was the victim and that the woman struck first, hitting him with a beer bottle.
Photo: AFP
“She physically assaulted Mr Jones,” he said, adding that surveillance video would show that.
However, Assistant City Prosecutor Christopher Ryan said the woman, Shannon Wesley, was not going to tolerate Jones’ insults, and was standing up for herself and the other women with her.
“The blow caused her head to snap back,” Ryan said, adding that it knocked her to the ground.
Ryan said Wesley suffered bruises, scrapes, neck pain and a headache.
Wesley’s friend, Brooke Boling, testified that Jones came up to a railing on the patio outside the bar and was insulting them. She said he kept calling them names, and that was when Wesley leaned over the railing and poured beer on his shoulder.
She said Wesley did not touch Jones with the bottle.
“When she poured it, she got hit and went down, and I ran inside,” Boling said.
Boling said she did not know it was Jones at the time.
“I thought it was some person, drunk,” she said.
Witnesses described Jones as being angry and loud. A security employee at the nightclub testified he heard women’s screams and saw arms flailing.
“It looked like he was very furious, upset and mad,” Nick Trotta said.
Last month, Jones paid a fine for disorderly conduct after police accused him of making offensive comments while in a traffic jam.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct after he was arrested in 2011 in another case. He was accused in that case of shouting profanities and trying to pull away as police arrested him at a bar.
Jones, the Bengals’ third cornerback and a punt returner, could face disciplinary action by the National Football League under its conduct policy.
The trial was expected to resume yesterday afternoon with testimony from Wesley and a viewing of the surveillance video.
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