Steelers Suspend Alameda Ta’amu For Two Week Without Pay

Oct 29, 2011, Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies defensive tackle Alameda Ta’amu

Pittsburgh Steelers fourth-round draft pick Alameda Ta’amu has been suspended for two weeks without pay following his Sunday morning arrest, head coach Mike Tomlin announced today.

Ta’amu was arrested on a handful of charges. Ta’amu’s faces a total of 15 charges including felony accounts of fleeing police, aggravated assault while driving drunk and an additional three felony accounts for aggravated assault for nearly running down police officers with his vehicle.

Officers drew their guns on Ta’amu’s Lincoln Navigator but did not fire because the street was too crowded. It is the second time Ta’amu has faced DUI charges. In 2009 as a student at the University of Washington, Ta’amu was also charged with a DUI.

Veteran safety Ryan Clark was among the Steelers players who have expressed their support of Ta’amu after the rookie addressed the team and apologized for his actions.

“You don’t stand by in the sense of making him feel this is right,” Clark said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  “You don’t ‘amen’ this in that it’s OK to do. But you don’t throw him away, you don’t exile him from the team, you don’t stop talking to him, you don’t stop being his friend.

“If you’re family, you don’t do that.  When someone in your family makes a mistake, you try your best to work through it with him, not make him go through it by himself.”

While he is suspended without pay, Ta’amu will be banned from all team facilities.