Former NFL player Joe Staysniak arrested for strangling son’s boyfriend
Former NFL star Joe Staysniak has been charged with assaulting his son and the son’s boyfriend (Photo: Hendricks County Sheriffs Department)
A former NFL player is facing a trial after allegedly assaulting his son and choking his son’s boyfriend.
Joe Staysniak, who played for the Indianapolis Colts in the 1990s, was arrested on 21 February and charged with one count of strangulation and two of battery resulting in bodily injury, according to Hendricks County Jail records.
The news site said that a probable-cause affidavit showed that Staysniak said he was investigating after a neighbour called him to report seeing a suspicious car in the front yard.
The affidavit said Staysniak opened the rear passenger door and “grabbed [the boyfriend’s] hood and was choking him”, NBC News reported.
The son alleged that his father “punched him, causing his lip to bleed, and his boyfriend”.
The document reveals that a police officer observed dried blood and cuts on the son’s lower lip.
Neither of the younger men have been named.
According to the affidavit, the son and his boyfriend both said Staysniak brandished a gun — the son saying Staysniak told him and his boyfriend “that they’re lucky he saw who it was” with the boyfriend also alleging Joe Staysniak “had it against the side of his face at one point”.
In the document, Staysniak confirms having his handgun on him but “denied touching [the boyfriend] with it or pointing it at any person”.
He denied hitting the boyfriend and said his son “tried to attack him”, so he shoved him backwards with an “open hand”.
Staysniak claimed he had to physically restrain his son, and his wife had to separate them, the affidavit said.
In a statement published on Facebook, Joe Staysniak’s lawyer, Guy Relford, said he was “completely confident that Joe’s actions will be conclusively determined to be legal and justified under the circumstances”.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 10, before a jury trial 15 days later.
As part of his pre-trial release, Staysniak, 56, has been ordered to have no contact with his son or the boyfriend, NBC News reported.
Staysniak, who also played for the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs and in San Diego and Arizona, has denies all the charges.
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