Citing police and court documents, the Kansas City Star reported that a 26-year-old woman accused Johnson, 28, of pushing her on the side of the head at a nightclub on Feb. 24, 2008.
Johnson is due to appear in Kansas City Municipal Court on Dec. 3, and faces a maximum jail term of six months and a $500 fine.
Johnson's lawyer, Kevin E.J. Regan, told the newspaper that his client will be vindicated at trial. He claimed that the woman did not inform management, security officers or police at the club of the incident but waited 11 hours to report the alleged assault.
The Chiefs had no comment and Johnson was not available Tuesday, an off-day for the players.
Capt. Rich Lockhart, a Kansas City Police Department spokesman, said charges did not come for six months because the police force was working on more pressing cases. The delay made it difficult to find a witness, who was finally interviewed in July or August.
That witness then picked Johnson out of a lineup.
"One has to question the fairness of a lineup shown six months later, involving someone whose photograph is published often in the media," Regan said, according to the Star.
Johnson was charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor domestic battery in 2003 for allegedly waving a gun during an argument with a former girlfriend at his home. The charges were later dropped when he agreed to a domestic violence diversion program.
Charges against Johnson in 2005 were dropped after a woman who had accused him of pushing her to the ground at a Kansas City bar decided not to press charges and failed to appear in three court hearings.
