Steelers cut WR Wilson

The move came hours after he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson on Thursday, hours after he was charged with assaulting his estranged girlfriend at a suburban restaurant.

“We’re extremely disappointed with this incident,” team chairman Dan Rooney told reporters. “The Steelers do not condone violence of any kind, especially against women.”

Police in Pine Township charged Wilson, 29, after he allegedly pushed Lindsey Paulat and then punched her in the face on Wednesday night.

The incident began after Wilson entered the Patron Mexican Grill shortly before 8 p.m. and saw Paulat sitting at the bar, according to a criminal complaint filed by Northern Regional Police.

Paulat told police Wilson pushed her on the shoulder and, when she turned around, punched her in the left side of her face before leaving the eatery promptly, according to the complaint. There was redness and swelling on Paulat’s left cheek, and witnesses told officers what happened, police said.

Officers later found Wilson as he was leaving his Pine Township home in his car, police said. He was arraigned Thursday around 4 a.m. on charges of simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct and freed on $10,000 bail.

Wilson apologized Thursday and said he would be seeking anger-management treatment.

“I shouldn’t have done it. I hold myself to a higher standard than that,” he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I just want to apologize to Lindsey, her family, the NFL family and the Pittsburgh Steeler nation. I let them down.”

Wilson said he would attend anger management classes “to better myself for my child and my other children. It’s tough to even talk about because I’m a man that’s always tried to keep my nose clean. That was very inappropriate. I’m very sorry about it.”

Wilson, a backup receiver, is the second Steelers player arrested this month on charges that he assaulted a woman.

Linebacker James Harrison, 29, a second-team All-Pro voted Most Valuable Player by his teammates last season, was charged with simple assault and criminal mischief for allegedly hitting his girlfriend on March 8. He faces a preliminary hearing April 3.

Harrison remains with the team.

Team spokesman Dave Lockett said that even though the Steelers don’t condone Harrison’s conduct, they recognized that the circumstances were different. Harrison’s dispute began when he argued with his girlfriend about whether to baptize his son, while Wilson and the woman he’s accused of hitting were involved in a previous incident, he said.