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Deion Sanders also cited for assault in domestic violence case

(CNN) — Former football star Deion Sanders and a third person also were cited for misdemeanor assault in an incident this week that resulted in Sanders...
Pilar Sanders Booking Photo

(CNN) — Former football star Deion Sanders and a third person also were cited for misdemeanor assault in an incident this week that resulted in Sanders’ estranged wife being arrested and taken into custody, according to a statement Wednesday by the Prosper, Texas, police department.

The statement said police responded to a domestic disturbance call Monday afternoon at a residence in the Dallas suburb where Sanders, 44, complained he was assaulted by Pilar Sanders, 38, and another woman identified as Dianna Boswell, also 38.

Pilar Sanders was detained and taken into custody on a charge of simple assault, a misdemeanor, the statement said.

“Further investigation of the circumstances prompted the responding officers to cite Mr. Deion Sanders and Ms. Dianna Boswell with Class C Simple Assault,” it continued. Only Pilar Sanders was taken into custody.

She was released Tuesday and said she hasn’t been given a “fair shake” over allegations that she attacked Sanders in an incident he made public in a series of bizarre Twitter postings.

“I understand that I have very little chance at beating a Hall of Fame, two-sport man that everyone seems to love and adore,” Pilar Sanders said, proclaiming her innocence.

The Collin County Sheriff’s Office said Pilar Sanders, under an emergency protective order, is forbidden from returning to the couple’s home for 61 days and cannot threaten or harass any member of the family.

In one of the messages posted Monday on his verified Twitter account, Deion Sanders included a photo of what he said were his children filling out complaints to give to police in Texas.

“Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room,” said the first tweet, posted at 6:15 p.m. “She’s going to jail n I’m pressing charges!”

Two minutes later, Sanders tweeted again.

“I’m sad my boys witnessed this mess but I warned the police department here that she was gone try n harm me and my boys. This is on my mama!” it said.

Shortly after that, Sanders tweeted a picture that showed him and his two boys, 10 and 12, filling out paperwork.

“Filling out police reports now! Thank God for this platform to issue the Truth,” the caption read.

Pilar Sanders was booked into jail Monday night on suspicion of assault family violence, according to booking records at the Collin County Jail. Bail was set at $264.

“I can tell you that there are two sides to every story, and the truth will come out in court,” Larry Friedman, an attorney for Pilar Sanders, said Tuesday.

Deion Sanders played for several NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and works as an analyst for the NFL Network.

During much of his NFL career, he also was an outfielder with four Major League Baseball teams and played in a World Series with the Atlanta Braves.

The NFL Network and Sanders’ business manager, Constance Schwartz, declined to comment about the incident. But a clearly emotional Sanders spoke to Dallas television station KXAS on Monday night and appealed for help.

“My kids, they are scared for their life,” he told the station. “They just saw two women jump their dad in his own house, in his room, in my room. It’s sad.

“I got locks on my doors right now,” he added. “Is somebody going to have to die? Is it going to be me before the court does something and get this woman out of my house? It’s absurd.”

The Sanderses have three children together. Deion Sanders has two other children from an earlier relationship.

The couple married in 1999 and starred in a reality show, “Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love,” that aired on the Oxygen network. The marriage soured, however, and the two are in a bitter divorce.

In February, Pilar Sanders filed a suit against her husband and his aunt, Laura Jones. She said the aunt attacked her in their 10-bedroom, 29,000-square-foot home in Prosper while Deion Sanders watched.

At the time, the athlete tweeted that his wife was the aggressor and the aunt was in the home merely to fix his phone.

Pilar Sanders also filed a separate suit against her husband and his daughter, Deiondra, after she called her stepmother a “gold-digging (expletive)” and “the number one gold digger of the year” in Twitter posts.

In the second suit, Pilar Sanders demanded $200 million in damages for libelous and slanderous comments. She claims that her husband “endorsed Deiondra’s false statements” and himself tweeted he was “tired of all (Pilar’s) lies and foolishness.”

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