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New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs had no choice but to move on from a tough Super Bowl loss.
Just five days after being part of a 29-13 loss that gave the Seattle Seahawks the Lombardi Trophy, the 32-year-old pleaded not guilty to charges of felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery.
Diggs’ attorney, Michael Schuster, told reporters outside the courtroom Friday that Diggs is “completely innocent” of the “false allegations”.
“We’re confident after the facts and evidence are reviewed in this case, he will be completely exonerated,” Schuster said, via WEEI Radio.
Originally slated to appear in court Jan. 23, two days before the AFC title game, Diggs’ first court hearing was pushed back to Friday because of a “previously scheduled professional commitment”.
A police narrative in a court filing said a woman went to the Dedham Police Department on Dec. 16 to report that, two weeks earlier, while working as a private chef for Diggs, he entered her bedroom and became angry during a discussion about money.
The woman told police Diggs “smacked her across the face.” She tried to push him away, and then he “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck.”
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“She said that he was behind her with his arm wrapped around her,” wrote Officer Kenneth J. Ellis. “She said that she did feel like she had trouble breathing and that she felt like she could have blacked out.”
Diggs threw her on a bed and said “lies” when she told him she had not been paid, Ellis wrote. The chef sought payment for a week in November when Diggs was hosting house guests and had to go home, Ellis wrote. The woman “left her position” and the home in Dedham but returned on Dec. 9 to retrieve her property. At that point, she told police, Diggs referred her to his assistant, who said she had to sign a nondisclosure agreement before she would be paid. She did not sign it, police said.
The woman was reluctant to file charges until later in December, Ellis wrote, when “she let me know that she had changed her mind from a few days ago” and wanted to pursue criminal charges.
Diggs was mostly silent during the Super Bowl with just three catches for 37 yards. There have also been rumors that he and Cardi B have broken up, with speculation that it actually happened during the game. Cardi B was spotted on the field during Bad Bunny’s halftime performance, along with Jessica Alba.
Fellow Patriots teammate Christian Barmore is facing domestic allegations, and his hearing is set for March 9.
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