Lawsuit claims Arizona Cardinals' Ronald Talley beat bar patron

PONTIAC, MI - Arizona Cardinals defensive end Ronald Talley is accused of smashing a champagne bottle on the head of a man at a suburban Detroit bar.

Robert Ford, 30, of Detroit was attacked near the restroom of the South Bar in Birmingham on March 26 and then dragged to the alley by bouncers, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Oakland County Circuit Court against Talley and unnamed bouncers.

Ford's injuries required 13 staples, attorney Jonathan Marko said Friday.

"The scalp has healed but the insides of his head will never be the same," Marko said. "He had trouble talking to me about what happened. He can't remember things. He definitely had a closed-head injury."

Talley, a Detroit native, was at Cardinals training camp in Flagstaff, Ariz., Friday. He said after the team's practice that the lawsuit took him by the surprise but that he could not comment on the details.

"Right now there's no comments that I can make," Talley said. "It's new to me, so I'll have to go and get some representation to be able to properly comment."

Ford and Talley know each other but were not together at the bar, Marko said.

He said he has at least three witnesses who saw the attack at the bar, which is now closed. Birmingham Police Chief Donald Studt said the incident is under investigation.