Brown, in No. 1, practices; coach, NFL to meet



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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Antonio Brown took part in his first training session with the New England Patriots on Wednesday afternoon, a day after his former coach filed a civil suit in the South Florida District , accusing him of having sexually assaulted three times.

Brown, who wore number 84 throughout his NFL career, wore number 1, his draft number, at the training.

Coach Bill Belichick refused to answer additional questions about Brown prior to training, including his status for Sunday's game in Miami. During his brief press conference, Belichick repeatedly said, "We work in Miami."

In the lawsuit, a copy of which was reviewed by ESPN, Britney Taylor, former trainer of Brown, accuses the newly signed Patriots receiver of having sexually assaulted her three times in 2017 (in the Pittsburgh area) and in 2018 (twice in the newspaper). Miami area).

Taylor is ready and plans to meet the NFL next week. She is getting married and can not meet before that date, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Ed Griffith, Information Officer at the Miami-Dade Attorney General's Office, said in a statement: "After reviewing our records, we found no prior contact from the police with any investigation into these allegations or these people.

"We will contact the relevant police services to determine if they have ever had any contacts or investigations.If such police investigations are ongoing, we would certainly be interested in these reports and any related evidence gathered", a- he declared.

The Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) County Attorney's Office told ESPN that it "naturally reviews" the information contained in a federal lawsuit whenever that information refers to a potential criminal activity, even if this activity had not been known before by the forces of the order. "

Belichick deferred to the Patriotes' statement Tuesday night that they knew about the lawsuit and "took the allegations very seriously."

"On the situation of Antonio, Antonio and his representatives have both made a statement, so I will not talk about it.They are what they are.We have looked at the situation.We take the very thing seriously, I'm sure there are questions, but I will not get into a discussion about this today, "he said.

Brown denied the allegations. Darren Heitner, a lawyer representing Brown, said his client was considering doing the wrong thing.

Drew Rosenhaus, Brown's agent, told ESPN on Wednesday that he and his client were "anticipating the possibility" that a lawsuit would be filed, but he declined to say whether the Patriots were aware of the lawsuit. before signing Brown.

Rosenhaus said he was in touch with the NFL Players Association, which has spoken with the NFL.

"What I want to emphasize to everyone is to let the situation go down." Antonio will cooperate, he will cooperate with the Patriots, with the NFL, in any investigation with the NFLPA, and with time, Antonio will released., "he said.

The NFL declined to comment, but will open its investigation Wednesday on the case, ESPN's Dan Graziano said.

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Patriots coach Bill Belichick refuses to answer questions about Antonio Brown at his weekly press conference.

The pursuit surprised the Patriots, sources told Schefter, and the team will have to decide what to do for Brown. One possibility is that Roger Goodell places Brown on the commissioner's exempt list, which would mean that Brown would not be on the Patriots' active list as the league investigates the allegations.

Brown was originally traded from Pittsburgh to Oakland during the off season. But a weird foot injury, NFL fights on his helmet, trainings, multiple fines, a showdown with Raiders GM Mike Mayock, and inflammatory messages on social media eventually led to the decision to free Brown.

He agreed to a contract with the reigning Super Bowl champions a few hours after the Raiders granted his request and let him go.

Mike Reiss of ESPN, Jeremy Fowler and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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