Former Pitt player Rashad Weaver charged with assault in April incident on South Side
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Former Pitt defensive end Rashad Weaver — drafted into NFL by the Tennessee Titans over the weekend — is facing assault charges related to an incident last month on Pittsburgh’s South Side.
The alleged assault — an altercation with a woman on East Carson Street — happened April 18, according to the criminal complaint against 23-year-old Weaver. Weaver is charged with one count of simple assault — a misdemeanor, court records show.
Dennis Blackwell, the Pittsburgh-based attorney representing Weaver, called the allegations “completely false and reckless.”
“Mr. Weaver takes these charges very seriously, and we look forward to clearing his good name,” Blackwell said in a statement. “Without question and without hesitation, we deny Rashad punched anyone, especially a woman.”
He said his firm will be conducting their own investigation.
Officers on foot patrol around 2:30 a.m. came upon a group of people gathered on South 17th Street between East Carson and Bingham streets. The group was gathered around a woman who was on the ground, according to the complaint, and witnesses said a man in a yellow shirt had punched the woman.
The man in the yellow shirt was later identified as Weaver, police said.
One witness said she saw Weaver punch the woman in the head, police wrote, and another said she did not see a punch thrown. She said she saw the woman fall to the ground. Officer Anderson O’Kelly, who wrote the criminal complaint against Weaver, noted the woman had scrapes and bruises but he did not see any injury consistent with a punch to the head.
The victim would later tell police she went to the hospital several days after the assault and was diagnosed as having a concussion, according to the complaint.
Police wrote that the altercation seemingly started about five minutes earlier inside the Foxtail bar on East Carson. The victim and Weaver argued inside the bar, and the woman threw a drink on him. Police separated the two and “sent them on their way.”
According to the complaint, the woman and her friends walked in one direction and Weaver left in the other direction. He allegedly said to officers that he “had no problem hitting a female if they needed it.”
Investigators said no security cameras captured the incident.
The charges against Weaver were filed April 30, and a summons was issued to his address in Florida on Monday.
Weaver was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of the NFL draft Saturday. The team released a short statement Monday indicating they were aware of the charges.
“We obviously take this seriously and are in the process of gathering details and working with the league,” a spokesperson said.
Weaver played for Pitt from 2016-20, though he missed the 2019 season with a knee injury. Pitt officials on Monday declined comment.