The Cincinnati Police Department refiled a criminal misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing against Bengals running back Joe Mixon stemming from a January incident, the department announced Friday.
“This decision was reached following the discovery of new evidence during the investigative process,” the police department wrote in a statement. “To preserve a fair and impartial judicial process for all parties involved, no investigatory details or evidence will be disclosed outside of official court proceedings.”
Mixon has been summoned to appear in Hamilton County Court on April 19.
“The Club is aware misdemeanor charges have been raised against Joe Mixon,” a Bengals spokesperson wrote in a statement Friday. “The Club is monitoring the situation and will not comment further at this time.”
Mixon was first charged with aggravated menacing in early February after he was accused of pointing a gun at a woman in Cincinnati on Jan. 21, the day the Bengals traveled to Buffalo to face the Bills in a divisional playoff game. “You should be popped in the face. I should shoot you,” he told the victim, according to a complaint and an affidavit filed in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
“We need additional investigation before we would move forward with this case,” the prosecutor, identified by her office as Amber Daniel, told Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Curtis E. Kissinger on Feb. 3. Daniel told Kissinger the alleged victim “understands the need to dismiss this case and the potential that we could refile this at a later date” and she “does still want to go forward with this charge if we do decide to refile it.”
“It was a rush to judgment,” Peter Schaffer, Mixon’s agent, told NFL Network on Feb. 2. “They’re dropping the charges first thing in the morning. I really feel that police have an obligation before they file charges — because of the damage that can be done to the person’s reputation — to do their work. They should be held to a higher standard.”