Santonio Holmes Sued for Assault, Battery

Step aside Big Ben, there’s a new Steeler stealing the spotlight.

And that Steeler is wide receiver Santonio Holmes, the MVP of Super Bowl XLIII, who is now facing a civil lawsuit for assault and battery.

According to CourtHouseNews.com, a suit was filed on March 24, 2010 for an incident occurring two weeks earlier in Orlando on March 7 — only two days after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger‘s latest spat with the law.

According to the complaint, Holmes confronted plaintiff Anshonoe Mills after she refused to leave a VIP area of Rain nightclub. Holmes allegedly “put his hand” in Mills’ face and “threw his entire glass cup of liquor” at her, which allegedly caused a laceration below her eyebrow and “blinding her temporarily.”

Mills also claims that she “felt pressure from [Holmes] and the Orlando Police Department not to press charges,” and that while under said pressure he made “a short victim statement incoherently stating that she was hit in the face and bleeding near her eyes, however, intended not to press charges.”

The complaint also alleges that “he proceeded to inform the plaintiff that he was an NFL football player and that he could not face criminal charges.”