Attorney For Off-Duty Officer With Roethlisberger Talks To WPXI

Two off-duty Pennsylvania law enforcement officers were with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at the Georgia nightclub where a woman accused him of sexual assault, and the two men didn't see anything inappropriate, an attorney for one of them said Wednesday.

Channel 11 News reporter Alan Jennings interviewed attorney Michael Santicola, who is representing Anthony Barravecchio, an officer on the force in the Pittsburgh suburb of Coraopolis.

Barravecchio and State Police Trooper Ed Joyner were among eight people with Roethlisberger celebrating his birthday at the Milledgeville, Ga., club where the alleged sexual assault took place.

Both officers are known friends of the two-time Super Bowl winner.

Sources close to the investigation told Jennings that Roethlisberger told police his accuser fell and hit her head in the club. According to the source, Roethlisberger said what occurred was consensual but it was not intercourse.

Jennings later learned that the accuser appeared to be heavily intoxicated, but Roethlisberger reportedly didn't buy or give her a single drink.

Jennings was told the woman, a 20-year-old Georgia college student, bought her own drinks and that her apparent intoxication may have caused her to fall.

According to Channel 11 sources, not a single witness said the accuser asked for help.

"Honestly, this is not lining up with someone who has been sexually assaulted," said Santicola.

Police did question Roethlisberger about the night in question last week, but never asked to talk to any member of his eight-person entourage, Jennings said.

Barravecchio's lawyer told Jennings on camera that his client told him, "I do know unequivocally that no criminal activity took place from Tony's perspective and everything else we know that absolutely these allegations are not true."

Santicola told Jennings his client has not been questioned by Georgia authorities, which is a red flag, in his opinion. If his client is asked to give a statement, he said it would be given freely.

"From a criminal defense stand point it certainly seems like a weak case to me. I do not believe this is the kind of case that would have any chance of success," Santicola said.

Barravecchio said he was not present when the police talked to Roethlisberger.

Ed Garland, an attorney for Roethlisberger, has said the quarterback is innocent of any crime and that no sexual assault occurred.

Two Atlanta-based attorneys for the woman who accused Roethlisberger have said that she did the right thing and asked for her family's privacy.

Milledgeville police have said they expect to interview Roethlisberger this week and are planning to take a DNA sample from him.

Roethlisberger, who owns a home about 30 miles north of Milledgeville on Lake Oconee, is also being sued by a woman who claims he raped her in 2008 at a hotel-casino in Lake Tahoe, an allegation he strongly denies.

Previous Stories: March 11, 2010: Attorney: Local Officers With Roethlisberger At Ga. Club March 10, 2010: Roethlisberger’s Accuser To Return To Ga. College March 9, 2010: Roethlisberger Accuser Drops Out Of College, TMZ Reports March 8, 2010: Roethlisberger's Attorney: 'No Sexual Assault Occurred' March 8, 2010: Investigation Continues After Roethlisberger Accused Of Sex Assault

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