The wife of Buccaneers tailback Michael Pittman will not pursue charges stemming from an incident last month in which he allegedly rammed her car, but it might not be enough to keep him from facing jail time or possible league sanctions.

	Pittman

Attorney Ed Brennan confirmed Wednesday that Melissa Pittman informed prosecutors of her intentions and asked that they drop two felony counts of aggravated assault against her husband. It appears, however, that the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Attorney's Office will continue to pursue its case against Michael Pittman.

According to Phoenix police, the 27-year-old Pittman rammed his Hummer into his wife's Mercedes-Benz on the afternoon of May 31, a result of a dispute over his wishes to take his son to Tampa Bay's mini-camp. His wife, son Mycah and a babysitter were in the Mercedes at the time of the incident.

An initial hearing on the felony counts, each of which carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, is scheduled for Monday. Even without the support of Melissa Pittman, the state can pursue the case. This is commonplace in similar incidents in Arizona alleging domestic violence.

But a hearing two days later, in which prosecutors will attempt to revoke Pittman's current probation, that might be of more immediate concern to the five-year veteran. He is serving a three-year probation stemming from two domestic abuse incidents within weeks of each other in 2001.

Robert Hubbard, the prosecutor for the city of Tempe, will argue next Wednesday that Pittman has not been a "law-abiding citizen," one of the terms of his probation. If the judge in that hearing believes this to be true, a mini-trial will be held within a few weeks and Pittman could be sentenced to jail time for violating his probation.

No matter the outcome of the two cases, Pittman faces scrutiny by the NFL according to the terms of its personal conduct policy. Pittman was suspended for the opener of the 2001 season because of the incidents earlier that year and there could be even stiffer sanctions this time around.

Pittman, who signed a five-year, $8.75 million contract with the Bucs on March 26, 2002, has continued to practice with the team the past two weeks and the Bucs and the NFL likely will wait until his cases are resolved before determining how to proceed.

Pittman started 15 of the 16 games in which he appeared last season, rushing for 718 yards and one touchdown on 204 carries. While his performance was disappointing at times, he led a strong rushing attack -- 124 yards on 29 carries -- in Tampa Bay's Super Bowl victory over the Oakland Raiders. The loss of Pittman certainly would hurt the effectiveness of a Bucs running game that statistically ranked 27th in the league last season.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.