
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. -- Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger posed for photos with some of the officers who conducted a sexual assault complaint investigation about an hour before the incident allegedly occurred.
Sgt. Jerry Blash, Det. Everett January, Lt. Willie Goddard and officer Paul Cressman -- all from the Milledgeville Police Department -- appeared in one of the photos along with Georgia College & State University public safety officer Nick Reonas.
Sgt. Blash, who was the officer initially approached by the alleged victim and wrote a police report of the incident, appears in a group shot with the others and then in a close-up shot with the quarterback.
Sgt. Blash is in uniform in both pictures.
"None of the officers were involved in the investigation after the supervisor [Lt. Goddard] did the initial report," Milledgeville police Chief Woodrow Blue said in an interview with the Post-Gazette this afternoon. "After that, it went to the detectives and we are working that with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations."
Chief Blue made a point to stress the photos were not a violation of any of his department's policies and, moreover, will not jeopardize the investigation into the happenings inside the Capital City nightclub involving Roethlisberger.
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