Woman files suit against Chicago Bears player over altercation

A woman has filed a lawsuit against Chicago Bears defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. over an altercation stemming from a team trip in 2020, the Chicago Tribune reported. 

In a complaint filed in Mecklenburg County, N.C. last month, Joann Blakney accused Edwards of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She also accused the Bears of negligent supervision and defamation.

In her suit, Blakney has also accused Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Jeffrey Burton of negligence.

According to the complaint, Blakney stated that she and Edwards had an on-and-off relationship dating back to 2012, which became verbally and physically abusive three years later. 

Blakney booked a hotel room in October 2020 at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, where the Bears players were staying for their contest against the Carolina Panthers, to meet with Edwards, according to the Tribune. 

Under the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols at that time, Edwards was not supposed to meet or engage with outside parties during team travel. 

Blakney, who was pregnant at the time, said she had consensual oral sex with Edwards, but then he became violent after she rejected his request for sexual intercourse. According to the suit, Edwards yanked her off the floor and began hitting her in the face as she recorded the incident.

The altercation continued as Edwards pulled her out of the bed, causing her stomach to hit his body and dragged her to the door of the hotel room. 

Edwards then hit Blakney in the arm as he entered the elevator after she followed and filmed him leaving the hotel room, the Tribune reported. 

The police report listed both Edwards and Blakney as victims, stating that officers responded to a report of “a female hitting a male with her hand and scratching his forehead.”

According to the suit, Blakney said that Burton, who was working as off-duty security for the hotel, retrieved four unidentified Bears employees to help him respond to the incident. 

The Bears employees then asked Blakney if she wanted or needed money, brought Edwards to her against her wishes, and falsely stated that she was a prostitute, the Tribune noted. Blakney later went to a medical facility to be treated for her injuries, stating in her complaint that she suffered a concussion and trauma to her vision and abdomen. 

Edwards’s agent Peter Schaffer told the Tribune in December that Blakney had consensual sex with his client, stating that the woman become angry over an argument about their relationship, leading Edwards to leave the hotel to escape an altercation with Blakney. 

According to the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court spokesperson, Edwards, a seven-year league veteran, was issued a criminal summons on a charge of misdemeanor assault on a female. 

Blakney is also facing a misdemeanor simple assault charge from the incident, a Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson told the Tribune. 

Blankey’s attorney Arcangela Mazzariello said a court date has been set for May, the Tribune noted. 

The Hill has reached out to the NFL for comment.