Former Ohio State football captain Joe Staysniak facing strangulation charge in Indianapolis
Former Ohio State football captain and Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Joe Staysniak was charged with strangulation and two counts of battery resulting in bodily injury Monday.
According to the Indianapolis Star, a friend of Staysniak's son reported that Joe Staysniak grabbed him from a Jeep and began to choke him before punching both his son and his friend.
The friend told authorities Staysniak "flashed a gun" during the interaction, according to the affidavit.
Staysniak, who played for Ohio State from 1985-89, told investigators he grabbed his son's friend by the hoodie "to get his attention," informing the two that he had a firearm, but denying ever pointing the gun at them or hitting his son's friend.
Staysniak told authorities his Smith and Wesson revolver was inside the glovebox, which investigators found.
Guy A. Relford, Staysniak's attorney, released a statement, saying "we are completely confident that Joe's actions will be conclusively determined to be legal and justified under the circumstance."
— Guy Relford (@guyrelford) February 22, 2023
Staysniak won a Big Ten championship with Ohio State in 1986 before beating Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl classic. He was named as an Ohio State captain in 1989, earning All-Big Ten and Academic All-American honors that season for the Buckeyes.
Staysniak was selected in the seventh round of the 1990 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers, spending the majority of his career with the Colts from 1992-95.
Staysniak was a co-host of a weekday morning sports talk radio show "The Jeff and Big Joe Show" in Indianapolis before he left in 2021.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Joe Staysniak facing strangulation charge in Indianapolis
