Police investigate Raiders incident
ALAMEDA, Calif. - The Napa police department on Friday reopened its investigation into an attack that left Oakland Raiders assistant coach Randy Hanson with a broken bone in his face.
Hanson was hospitalized following the Aug. 5 attack that he told police was initiated by a member of the Raiders coaching staff at the team's training camp hotel in Napa. Internet reports said head coach Tom Cable attacked Hanson during a meeting with some of the team's defensive coaches.
Cable would not comment when asked Friday about the news that the police had reopened the investigation. Earlier in the week, he said "nothing happened."
"When all the facts come out, everything will be fine," Cable said Thursday.
The police said earlier this week that the case was closed because the victim was unwilling to cooperate. On Friday, the department announced that it had been reopened, apparently after Hanson agreed to cooperate with authorities.
Messages left for Hanson at the Raiders headquarters in Alameda and for Hanson's San Francisco-based attorney, John McGuinn, were not immediately returned.
The NFL is already looking into the case to determine if Cable violated the league's personal conduct policy. According to the policy, a coach or player can be disciplined for "violent or threatening behavior among employees, whether in or outside the workplace."
According to the Internet site the National Football Post, the attack happened after Cable told Hanson he was being relegated from an on-field coach with defensive backs to breaking down film.
Big Ben bullying? A lawyer for the woman who claims Ben Roethlisberger raped her at Lake Tahoe last summer is asking a judge to sanction the Steelers quarterback's legal team, saying they tried to "bully" her into dropping her civil lawsuit.
Roethlisberger's lawyers tried to smear the woman with an affidavit from an ex-friend who said the sex in Roethlisberger's room at Harrah's Lake Tahoe hotel-casino was consensual and that the woman bragged about it, said Cal Dunlap, her Reno lawyer.
He also said in a motion filed Thursday in Washoe District Court in Reno that Roethlisberger's lawyers made a settlement offer this week suggesting they might countersue her for defamation - a move Dunlap said "borders on criminal extortion."
Roethlisberger's lawyers said in the offer that a "conspiracy to extort and defame" him has seriously harmed his potential earnings in excess of $20 million.
Settlement alternatives outlined in the offer included one scenario where Roethlisberger would release both the woman and Dunlap from any legal liability if the woman dropped her lawsuit and wrote a letter of apology to the two-time Super Bowl winner.
Stafford's a starter: Detroit coach Jim Schwartz says quarterback Matthew Stafford will start the Lions' exhibition game at Cleveland.
Schwartz says Stafford likely will play into the second quarter of tonight's game, followed by Daunte Culpepper and Drew Stanton.
Culpepper started last weekend's exhibition opener against Atlanta and was 5 of 6 for 41 yards. Stafford completed half of his 14 passes for 114 yards with a touchdown and an interception in Detroit's 27-26 win over the Falcons.
Bills sign Maybin: First-round draft pick Aaron Maybin has signed a five-year contract with Buffalo.
Capping four weeks of negotiations, the defensive end was at the team's headquarters to sign on Friday afternoon, his agent, Chafie Fields, told The Associated Press. "Aaron's happy to be here and ready to go to work," Fields said. Financial terms were not immediately available.
Maybin was drafted 11th overall out of Penn State.
He is expected to begin practicing on Monday, the team's first session after it returns home following a preseason game at Green Bay today. Buffalo has two preseason games left, at Pittsburgh on Aug. 29 and at home against Detroit on Sept. 3.