PITTSBURGH — Two city constables allegedly refused to accept a woman’s offer to pay off a warrant for an outstanding traffic ticket and instead handcuffed her and dragged her out of her home by her feet, prompting them to be charged with simple assault and other offenses.

Attorneys for the constables, Christian Constantini, 26, and Michael Lowman, 45, denied wrongdoing Tuesday and said their clients acted “professionally” even after the incident got “out of hand.”

The Allegheny County district attorney’s office said the constables knocked the phone out of the 50-something woman’s hand as she called a police official relative to intervene and told her she was going to jail even after her adult daughter first tried to pay the debt.

“Constable Constantini grabbed the check ... crumpled it and threw it to the ground stating that they don’t take checks,” according to criminal complaints filed Monday by the DA’s office. When the woman’s daughter offered to get the money from an ATM three blocks away, the “constables ignored her and began to drag her mother out of the house by her feet.”

The incident allegedly happened at Esther Peyton’s Munhall home on Oct. 14 while her younger daughter, age 10, and 5-year-old grandson were also present, according to the complaints.