CLEVELAND -- Two police officers testified yesterday that they couldn't determine who was the aggressor in a domestic-violence call Oct. 4 involving Steelers backup tailback Najeh Davenport and the mother of his 5-year-old son.

Lt. George Seroka and Sgt. Mark Shepard, supervising officers on duty in Cleveland's District 5, testified in Cleveland Municipal Court they observed no serious injuries that night to Anita Person, the mother of Najeh Davenport Jr. Shepard added that he felt Person received special attention in the case, which is scheduled to enter its fourth day of testimony today. The elder Davenport faces misdemeanor charges of domestic violence, child endangering and unlawful restraint.

Shepard said he was told by the court's public-information representative the next day that a warrant was issued for Davenport's arrest. However, Domestic Violence Unit Detective Cynthia Oliver later said on the stand that she began her investigation Oct. 5, the day Person first reported to the Cleveland prosecutor's office the morning after the incident. Oliver said she interviewed Davenport five days later, a day before charges were filed Oct. 11.

Picking up Najeh Jr. on Oct. 4 as part of their custody arrangement, Davenport told Person that he planned to seek full custody, according to police reports. He began to drive away in his SUV when Person opened the rear passenger-side door and jumped in to remove their son.

Another passenger in the SUV, Javonne Rankin of New Castle, who described herself as a friend of Davenport's, testified late yesterday that Person sat on Davenport's other son, Ali, 2, and he "screamed and gasped" when Person put her knee into the younger boy's chest while trying to corral Najeh Jr. Rankin said Davenport yelled, "Get off my son ... you're crazy," and she added that Person responded by saying, "I guess we're all going to Pittsburgh then."

Davenport then stopped the vehicle, Person got out holding Najeh Jr. in her arms, and Rankin said the parents began "tussling" on the sidewalk with the older boy between them.

Seroka, who was called later to the scene to take photographs of the parties involved, testified that he could detect scratch marks on Davenport's face and minor scratches on Person, though Shepard said he saw no injuries to Person.

"I had a real difficulty seeing any injury whatsoever," Seroka said. "She didn't say anything about pain."

The next day, Oliver took digital-camera photographs that she said showed "scratches, abrasions ... redness" on Person, who testified earlier that Davenport pushed her down on the sidewalk, punched and choked her.

Neither Seroka nor Shepard completed full interviews or the police report, they said. But they conferred at the scene with their officers who first responded and later wrote the reports.

"We came to the determination that we were going to write cross-referencing, domestic-violence reports," Seroka said, meaning a complaint by each party that the other was the aggressor. "And let the Domestic Violence Unit follow up. I could not say Najeh Davenport was the primary aggressor. We collectively made a determination that he wasn't going to be arrested that night."