The three people who announced that they were going to sue Mike and Maurkice Pouncey have formally done so Friday. Riquan James, Brantley Williams, and Niya Pickett filed their lawsuit Friday in the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade County Florida.
The complaint alleges that the Pounceys and their security detail called James “derogatory and homophobic remarks and anti-gay slurs,” and that both Pounceys “began to push and shove” him. When James politely asked them to stop, Maurkice allegedly “struck James in the face several times” before the Pounceys and their security detail began “to punch, hit and kick James while he was laying in a fetal position.”
According to the allegations, Pickett tried to intervene, but Maurkice “punched her in the face and knocked her unconscious.” The suit claims that Williams was a random club goer, who suffered bruises and a large laceration that required stitches. She allegedly received the injuries when the two were thrown into her.
Here is the complete lawsuit filed yesterday via a Miami sports radio station.
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The alleged victims’ laywer, Marwan Porter, spoke with 93.7 The Fan yesterday. “The victims in this particular situation, the young lady Niya Pickett, Brinley Williams and the gay individual, Ricquan James, they’re traumatized by this,” Porter said. “You have two 6-foot-5, 300 pound giants who went around this club and knocked out a woman and a gay guy who are less than half their sizes, and they were very adamant that they want these people, the Pouncey brothers, held accountable, and they wanted this to move forward. They didn’t want this to be swept under the rug, and for these individuals to get away with this just because they’re rich and famous. You know, regular people need to have a voice as well and you can’t just go around punching peoples’ lights out.”
You can listen to the full audio from that interview below:
According to Pouncey’s lawyer, the Pounceys intend to countersue.
“The allegations in the complaint about my clients are completely false,” attorney Jeffrey M. Ostrow said in a statment. “As I previously stated, Mike and Maurkice Pouncey had absolutely no involvement whatsoever in the alleged incident that evening and did nothing wrong. This claim is a complete sham. The plaintiffs and their lawyer are perpetuating these lies in a bid for notoriety and financial gain. We intend to defend this case through trial if necessary and will be filing a counterclaim for malicious prosecution and defamation.”
Maurkice spoke publicly about the lawsuit for the first time today at training camp.
“I’m a man about everything,” Pouncey told the media today. “Y’all know that every time I ever made a mistake any time in my NFL career I admitted to it. For something like this to happen and have no total involvement in it is upsetting and hurtful to me. You know it’s on my mind like crazy. Hopefully, it blows over. Our lawyer put out a statement.” When asked if he was afraid of being disciplined, he said he had none. “No fear at all. The only thing that sucks about it is that I tried to keep a clean nose throughout the process this year. Having to deal with this, sucks, it truly does.
“Even for the birthday party, we hired our own retired police officer to go out with us. For something like to this to happen is truly unbelievable. I just want to take the time to apologize to the the fans who take this the wrong way. You guys all know me and know the person I am. For people to say bad things about me, that sucks. But sometimes you’ve got to deal with bad things in life and move on.”
The legal process will take some time of course, but the next step will be discovery, and the most important piece of discovery will be the video surveillance from the Cameo night club.