Gilbert Charged After Police Scuffle : Jurisprudence: Rams’ lineman and two Pitt players are arrested after an altercation with off-duty officer.

Defensive lineman Sean Gilbert, one of the Rams’ prize investments, and two University of Pittsburgh football players have been charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing a passageway after an altercation with an off-duty police officer Wednesday morning in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh police said that Gilbert, Reuben Brown and Jonathon McCray allegedly blocked a woman from leaving the Original Hot Dog Shop, then scuffled with an off-duty officer who intervened.

The three athletes were arraigned Wednesday and face a preliminary hearing March 31. Each was released on $200 bond, which was provided by Gilbert’s mother, Aileen.

David Proctor, the off-duty police officer who was hired as a security guard at the hot dog shop, has a back injury but was in good condition at West Penn Hospital.

Two other police officers, who had responded to Proctor’s call for help after scuffling with the 6-4 1/2, 315-pound Gilbert and two friends, were treated at Shadyside Hospital and released.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said the aggravated assault charge--a first-degree felony--was the most serious leveled against the three. The maximum penalty for a conviction would be 10 to 20 years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine.

Ram Coach Chuck Knox said he had been informed of the incident in Pittsburgh, but he had no comment except to say he was waiting to learn more about what had happened.

The University of Pittsburgh announced Wednesday that Brown and McCray were suspended from the team.

Gilbert, 23, could not be reached for comment, and his Pittsburgh-based agent, Gus Sunseri, said that Gilbert would have nothing to say before the preliminary hearing.

Pittsburgh police officer Charles Kennedy said the incident began at 2:20 a.m. EST. According to Bruce Simon, the restaurant owner, shop employees advised him that a woman had complained to management that Gilbert and his friends would not allow her to leave the establishment.

Simon said that Proctor asked the three men to leave, and they refused.

“Gilbert said he would not leave because he was black and being a white police officer I was being racial,” Proctor wrote in his report for the police.

According to Proctor, he asked the men to leave three times. Proctor reported that when he attempted to use his radio to call for help, Gilbert jumped on his back, then the other two joined in.

Witnesses told Simon that “Gilbert just fell on Proctor, crushed him and then the other two jumped on. They backed off only when he started to reach for his gun.”

Six police officers responded to Proctor’s request for assistance, and upon arrival there was a scuffle outside the restaurant between the police officers and the three football players. Police officers Darla Kozak and Mike Blake were treated later and released from the hospital.

“The big guy (Gilbert) just came charging at the officer, punched him in the face and then jumped on him,” said Joanne Keys, night manager at the hot dog shop. “When they got outside there were a whole lot of cops and it took like seven or eight of them to get the big guy in the car.”

Gilbert earned All-American honors at Pitt in 1991 and drew immediate praise from Knox after the Rams selected him in the first round of 1992 NFL draft.

“He’s the first step in the rebuilding of this Rams football team,” Knox has said.

Gilbert recorded 46 tackles and five sacks as a rookie, and recently the Rams designated him a transition player, which provides them the first right of refusal in the event another team attempts to sign him when his contract expires in 1996.