Buffalo Bills linebacker Von Miller spoke to the media for the first time on Thursday since he was charged in a warrant with domestic violence against the mother of his children.
Miller spoke for more than 13 minutes, addressing the situation without offering many details.
“Obviously, there are things I can’t talk about, but everything that is out is completely wrong and blown out of proportion,” Miller told reporters.
He went on: “Me and my girlfriend, we have problems just like any other couple does, but it’s never been any of the things that were alleged against me. Hopefully, over time, all of this stuff will get cleared up, and sometimes life just be life-ing…. People who know me and people who have been around me know my character, and they know who I am.”
Miller surrendered to police on November 30 after he was charged with third-degree felony assault of a pregnant woman. A police affidavit said Miller became “visibly angry” during an argument with the woman and began pushing her. After she fell into a chair as a result of being pushed, Miller put a hand on her neck and applied pressure for “3 to 5 seconds before letting go.” She felt pain but did not have difficulty breathing, according to the affidavit.
Photo by Ryan Kang/Getty Images
The document says Miller then grabbed her phone, threw her laptop on the ground, stomped on it, grabbed her by the hair and pulled a chunk out. That caused her to fall down. He then placed pressure around her neck with both hands, which caused pain but did not obstruct airflow.
At some point, the woman started recording on a phone in her pocket, and she presented that evidence to police. The police report said that minor abrasions on the woman’s hand and bruising on her neck were consistent with “applied pressure to the neck.”
Newsweek reached out to the Bills and Miller’s representativesn by email requesting comment on the allegations in the police affidavit.
WFAA in Dallas reported that Miller’s girlfriend said via text that things “were blown way out of context” and that “no one assaulted anyone.” She also asked the TV station to stop contacting her.
An “estimated 40 to 90 percent” of domestic violence victims later recant their testimony, Njeri Mathis Rutledge, a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston, wrote in the New Mexico Law Review in 2009.
On Thursday, Miller called his situation “a tough patch on and off the football field, and you’ve just got to keep pushing.”
“First and foremost, there are men and women that deal with serious domestic situations,” Miller said. “You cannot downplay that. That really happens in this world that we live in. Let’s not fairy-tale that. That stuff is true, that stuff is real. Never in any of my relationships that I’ve been in, never in my current relationship with my girlfriend, did any of those things happen.
“So whenever you see that stuff pop up on articles and stuff, it’s shocking, especially when my name is attached to it. But it’s 100 percent false. It’s overblown, I have the right people on the job, and you just keep pushing. I know who I am, I know my character, I know the type of person that I am, I know me and my girlfriend’s relationship,” he said.
Miller added that he is not on social media.
“I would love to sit here and say, ‘Y’all know me,’ but this is not that situation, because domestic violence really happens around the world for men and women,” he said. “And it’s a serious situation. I wouldn’t pull that card. All I can say is, it’s just a matter of time before everything is set straight…. It didn’t happen, and it’s just a matter of time before everything is set straight.”
He said that his relationship with his girlfriend is “the same.”
“We got three kids, everything is normal in that respect,” Miller said. “Everything was blown out of proportion that day. It was just a crazy day. Like I said, I can’t really get into too many different things, but you deal with all types of stuff…. I hate it happened, I hate my name is attached to anything like that, and it’s just a matter of time before I can clear it up.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.