Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga is facing a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from a bar incident last weekend.
Police cited the 25-year-old Maualuga with the misdemeanor count on Friday after investigating allegations by a bar employee that Maualuga punched him in the face early Sunday morning. Maualuga's arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 17.
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Sammy Laham, the bar manager at Luxe, told WXIX-TV that the incident occurred as the downtown Cincinnati bar was closing.
"One of them said something at which point I repeated myself, that they had to leave, and then Rey Maualuga got up, took three or four steps and punched me in the face, more noticeably the eye, then my nose started to bleed," Laham told the station. "Then security diffused the situation."
Bengals spokesman Jack Brennan said the club doesn't comment on unresolved legal matters. Maualuga's agent, Gary Uberstine, spoke with the player and later refused comment to WXIX.
Maualuga pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges in northern Kentucky in 2010, and after appealing a one-game suspension was fined by the two game checks and part of his signing bonus by the NFL. In that case, he got a suspended seven-day jail sentence and had his driver's license suspended for 90 days. He was also placed in stage one of the league's Alcohol and Substance Abuse program, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
