Steelers assistant Joey Porter placed on leave after arrest

The Steelers have placed assistant coach Joey Porter on leave following his arrest Sunday night outside a Pittsburgh bar.

Porter, an outside linebackers coach and former Pro Bowl player for the Steelers, was charged early Monday with assaulting a doorman at a bar and a police officer who intervened hours after the team's wild-card win over the Miami Dolphins.

"We are continuing to gather information concerning Sunday night's incident involving Joey Porter," Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said in a statement Monday.

"We have been and will continue to be in communication with the NFL as is required by the Personal Conduct Policy. Pending further review, Joey Porter has been placed on leave. At this time, we will move forward with our preparations for the Divisional Round playoff game at Kansas City."

The altercation happened at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. According to a criminal complaint, officer Paul Abel was working security at a nearby bar when he was told by an off-duty officer that the doorman at The Flats on Carson Street was being threatened by a Steeler.

Abel said he arrived to find the doorman refusing to let Porter -- who appeared to be intoxicated -- into the club.

"Last time you were here, you threatened to kill me," Abel overheard the doorman saying to Porter. "You need to leave. You are not getting in."

Police didn't elaborate on the context of the remark.

Abel, the 5-foot-6, 145-pound officer who filed the complaint, said Porter, 6-3 and 260 pounds, ignored him when he asked what was going on, and that Porter grabbed the doorman by the arms and lifted him off the ground. The doorman, described as 6 foot and 195 pounds, wasn't aggressive with Porter and had his hands in his pockets, according to the complaint.

Abel said he pulled Porter away from the doorman. That's when Porter grabbed the officer's wrists "so tightly that I could not pull them away from him, no matter how hard I tried," the complaint said.

Porter backed away but then refused to put his hands behind his back.

Porter eventually allowed himself to be handcuffed but yelled, "You're lying, I never touched you," as Abel arrested him, the complaint said.

Porter was charged with aggravated assault on the officer, simple assault on the doorman, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, defiant trespass and public drunkenness. Physical contact with a police officer is automatically charged as aggravated assault in Pennsylvania, even if the nature of the alleged conduct would constitute simple assault against a regular citizen.

Online court records don't list an attorney for Porter, who posted $25,000 bond and faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 19 in Pittsburgh City Court.

Porter spent 13 seasons as a linebacker with Pittsburgh, Miami and Arizona. He went to the Pro Bowl four times, three with the Steelers, while playing there from 1999 to 2006, and once with Miami. He also starred on the Steelers' 2006 Super Bowl championship team.

He has had multiple run-ins with the law in the past, including a 2010 arrest for suspicion of drunken driving and an accusation of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Those charges, filed in his hometown of Bakersfield, California, were eventually dropped.

The Steelers will visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the divisional round of the playoffs.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.