Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Anthony Chickillo was tased by police at a Florida hospital Thursday after having a “medical episode” in a doctor’s office, TMZ reported.
Police arrived at the Hialeah Hospital after a 911 call reported the event. The Hialeah Police Department told TMZ that Chickillo had “tried to attack everybody,” including his father, who was with him. Bystanders said Chickillo “suddenly snapped and began ‘trashing’ an office, proceeding to break things and throw chairs,” TMZ reported.
Watch the video here:
TMZ reported that police were forced to use their tasers to “subdue” the former linebacker.
Video shows the 30-year-old Chickillo barefoot and shirtless, on his knees in an elevator lobby of the hospital as police placed him in handcuffs.
Chickillo’s girlfriend, Tatu Baby, told TMZ the former linebacker’s episode stemmed from bipolar disorder stemming from a “concussion that he suffered during his playing days.”
“It was just a medical situation,” she told the outlet. She noted that Chickillo had been hospitalized and was receiving medication.
No charges were filed against the former NFL player, and he was not arrested. Police told the outlet that he was instead put on a “72-hour psychiatric hold.”
Anthony Chickillo (Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Chickillo played in the NFL for six years, with the Steelers and also the New Orleans Saints and the Denver Broncos, before retiring in 2021. His father, Tony Chickillo, who was present at the hospital during Thursday’s incident, and his grandfather Nick Chickillo, also played for the NFL. All three men also played for the University of Miami.
Anthony Chickillo had a previous run-in with law enforcement in 2019, when he was arrested for attacking his then-girlfriend, Canadian Olympic pole vaulter Alysha Newman.
Breitbart News reported in October 2019:
Chickillo claimed that Newman punched him in the head, and he responded by shoving her and knocking her to the floor. For her part, Newman insisted that Chickillo grabbed her “by the biceps and forced her against a wall and door of the hotel room.”
“Police charged Chickillo with simple assault, criminal mischief, and harassment; he was released on $10,000 bail,” Breitbart News reported at the time. The charges against Chickillo were later dropped, as Newman refused to testify against him.