Plum Football Coach Denies Allegations He Assaulted Player

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PLUM (KDKA) -- A Plum Senior High School football coach is telling his side of the story after a student claimed he "roughed him up" in the locker room.

Assistant football coach LaQuentin Smith is desperate to get his reputation back and return to his job coaching.

"We could no longer, no longer stay silent on these issues," attorney Phil DiLucente said.

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Smith and his attorney are strongly denying the player's claim that Smith grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against a locker room wall.

"What's been represented to date is that he put his hands around a young man's neck, which is completely false. I say that again, it's completely false," DiLucente said.

Photos released through the player's attorney last week show bruises and marks that the player claims were caused by Smith.

"The coach grabbed him by the neck and had him up against the wall. That's what the witnesses are saying," David Shrager, the player's attorney, said.

Smith claims he was merely restraining the boy when he began to throw punches.

"I had seen a hand thrown to me. I put my hands out to a great distance between me and this fellow so I did not get hit in the face," Smith said.

Smith says the bruises on the boy's neck happened during the football game.

"It happened from the game," DiLucente said. "And I've played the game my whole life and he has played the game his whole childhood as well as adulthood life and you get bruises."

Plum Borough Police are now investigating these allegations.