Christopher Harding, a Pitt senior injured in the alleged Keith Coleman assault, spoke out on the incident involving he, Coleman, and a third man, Brendan Connor:
Harding said he was out walking by himself very early Saturday in Oakland when he witnessed the incident begin.
“In front of him was a guy and a girl. He, like, walked right in between them and hit them both; and the girl stumbled,” Harding told KDKA’s David Highfield from a hospital room at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.
The incident happened along the sidewalk in Oakland around 2 a.m.
“Of course the guy said something like, ‘What are you doing?’ And he ended up punching the kid,” Harding said.
He claims Coleman had the man in a neck hold, so Harding said he decided to try to break it up.
“Then, he, like, started at me and I think he swung at me, then he hit me in the left shoulder and broke the collarbone,” said Harding. “He hit me in the left shoulder, then he had me in a headlock.”
Harding ended up on the ground and later lost consciousness.
There were accusations of a racial slur being used, but Harding says that isn’t true:
According to police papers, Coleman said he was walking down the street when two men called him a racial slur, but Harding says he never used a slur and is offended by that claim.
“I heard him telling the police officer that he actually thought I was the one saying that. That was definitely not that case,” added Harding.
The original report mentions a witness who believes he saw Connor “go after” Coleman first, so at this point, details are extremely murky. But one thing is clear – Pitt players have found themselves in all kinds of trouble lately.