Don Henderson says Reed didn't raise his fists in front of police.
Police say Reed took a "fighting stance" when officers arrived to cite teammate Matt Spaeth for allegedly urinating in public, and became unruly when police tried to restrain him.
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Henderson denied that allegation in comments to Pittsburgh media outlets Monday, but declined to elaborate when asked about it by The Associated Press.
"We're contesting it," Henderson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It involved somebody else on the team, he got out to try to help and basically got attacked by the police. He was with his parents. He got out and tried to help and evidently they didn't want to hear that. ... It was somebody else trying to do something and Jeff ended up getting slammed in the middle."
Reed is charged with simple assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Police say two officers were needed to restrain Reed, who refused orders to get back into the SUV he had been in with his father, along with Spaeth.
This is Reed's second brush with the law this year.
He paid $543 in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct and criminal mischief for damaging a paper towel dispenser in a convenience store bathroom in New Alexandria in February.
"He may try to talk him to death, but he's not going to try to hit him," Henderson said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "That's just not his personality at all. He's about as non-confrontational a person I know."
The Associated Press could not immediately locate Spaeth's agent for comment Tuesday.
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