MSU players arrested; Croom says no disciplinary action need

[rebelduckaholic]

July 25, 2005
MSU players arrested; Croom says no disciplinary action needed

By Ian R. Rapoport
irapopor@clarionledger.com

COLUMBUS — Three Mississippi State football players were arrested and taken into police custody because of their their involvement in two separate incidents in a Columbus nightclub on July 8, police records show.

Projected defensive end starter Titus Brown and reserve De'Mon Glanton were arrested by the Columbus Police Department and charged with disorderly conduct, according to police records. One hour later in a separate altercation, projected defensive end starter Michael Heard was arrested and charged with simple assault, police records say.

Each incident occurred at Big Kahuna's Beach Club, located on 201 Alabama Street in Columbus.

Through MSU spokesman Mike Nemeth, coach Sylvester Croom, who was aware of the incident, said that no disciplinary action would be taken.

Croom added: "If they are arrested for defending themselves, so be it."

The players were not immediately available for comment.

According to the Columbus Police Department's incident report, Brown and Glanton were two of six people involved in a fight with another patron. Public relations officer Donnie Elkin said Heard scuffled with a bouncer one hour later.

Neither player spent the night in jail. Heard and Glanton each posted his $350 bond and was released, then each pled guilty to his charge in court on July 20.

Brown is scheduled to appear in court on July 27.

[RebelYelp]

rut roh......

so first..... the "cleanest" program in the SEC has a fullback arrested last year for DUI and spotlighting deer.....that never made the news

now this..... when was it that Croom said jokingly "we didn't have any problems over the summer....."

It's the SEC...

[bigwater]

hey !!!
hey, hey , hey , hey,


yawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Po Monkey Lounger]

hmmmmmm, I thought this kind of thing no longer happened at MSU under Croom

GH22, did you start that fight??

Croom the disciplinarian? Hear no evil, see no evil.

I'm certain that the "real" story was that these outstanding young student athletes were headed to the FCA house to play bingo for charity, and one thing led to another, there was a wrong turn, they got lost, ran out of gas, were rescued from the side of the road by some good Samaritans who dropped them off at Big Kahunas, drinks were forced upon them clouding their judgement, words were exchanged, no doubt a woman or two was involved and a bunch of big ol bullies on the tennis team ---foreigners no doubt --- provoked them into defending their honor and dignity. Its plausible.

[rebelduckaholic]

They are definately the "cleanest" program in the SEC

[Greenhead22]

Heck, could've been worse.....like Pittman pulling the Glock 9 on police.

[mottlet]

I'll say this for M. Heard...I hate a damn arrogant-azz bouncer trying to see how far you'll let him go too.

mottlet

[lilwhitelie]

Ifin you discipline everybody there would be no football team!! Got to draw the line somewhere cause he aint got but one more 2-10 record before he too bites the dust!!! How in the world was MSU picked to finish ahead of UM in one of the poll picks!!!

[mottlet]

This is hilarious. These cats that the players jumped sound like a pair of real winners.

COLUMBUS — Three Mississippi State football players were arrested and taken into police custody July 8 for their role in two separate altercations in a Columbus nightclub.

The men who bore the brunt of the attack — brothers Elency and Lester Erby of Columbus — were not charged. Yet Elency Erby insists he swung first, because he figured a group of MSU football players might start hitting him.

"They looked like they were fixin' to get me, so I started swinging," Elency Erby, 20, said. "I just knuckled up."

Projected defensive end starter Titus Brown and reserve De'Mon Glanton were arrested by the Columbus Police Department and charged with disorderly conduct at 12:30 a.m. on July 8, according to police records. One hour later, projected defensive end starter Michael Heard was arrested and charged with simple assault for his role in another fight, police records say.

Brown, a 6-foot-3, 234-pound sophomore, had to be subdued with a stun gun, according to the police report.

Each incident occurred at Big Kahuna's Beach Club, located on 201 Alabama Street in Columbus.

The players were not made available for comment.

Through MSU spokesman Mike Nemeth, coach Sylvester Croom said he was aware of the incident and that no disciplinary action would be taken.

Croom added: "If they are arrested for defending themselves, so be it."

The arrests came six months after former tackle Richard Burch was arrested and charged with sale of more than one ounce of marijuana. They also occurred two weeks before Croom told a group of boosters in Jackson that his players had spent the summer working hard in conditioning drills on the field and to stay out of the headlines off it.

Brown started five games and had 59 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks. Heard, a 6-foot-2, 256-pound junior, started seven games and had 32 tackles — five for a loss. Glanton, a defensive back, redshirted.

Heard and Glanton were released after posting $350 bond. Both pled guilty July 20 and paid $350 fines. Brown is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Elency Erby said the fight started when it appeared one of his friends was having words with "a bunch of big dudes," who he later learned were MSU football players. He tried to stop a fight from breaking out, which he recalled made some players angry at him. He said he didn't "want it to go down like that," so he went upstairs.

Erby, who said he is 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, returned downstairs. He said he saw "like 12 dudes" standing together. That's when he started swinging, because he guessed they might throw a punch before he did.

"I was hitting them, they was hitting me," he said. "There was beer on the floor, and I fell, so I got kicked in the face. When I got back up, somebody was on my back, so I slammed him. Then the bouncer grabbed me and tried to take me outside."

At that point, Elency's brother Lester — who said he had been previously trying to break it up — got involved. He saw a person run by whom he described as "a big dude with dreads." He hit the person with a wooden buoy he pulled off the wall.

"I clocked him right in the head," Lester said. "We're taught not to run from anything, even if they were big."

While the brothers claimed they didn't know the group included football players before the incident, they each seemed to have a gripe with that fact.

"It's just their mentality," Lester Erby said. "They think they can come into our club and do whatever they want because they're football players and they're big. We don't take that (expletive)."

Columbus police officer Troy Lee Burgin, who was working crowd control at the club, wrote in his report that he approached five or six individuals who were beating one subject. Everyone ran, except for Glanton and Brown, who continued fighting, said the report.

"I ordered Mr. Brown to stop, and he did not comply," the incident report states. "I then attempted to physically pull him off Mr. Erby, but he continued to swing wildly. I then shot Mr. Brown with my X26 Taser, and Mr. Brown became compliant."

Burgin transported Brown and Glanton to Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.

The Big Kahuna was not open Monday, and further details regarding Heard's arrest were not available. Donnie Elkin, the public relations officer for the Columbus Police, said Heard scuffled with a bouncer one hour later.

Burgin could not be reached for comment. Josh Woodall, Heard's arresting officer, no longer works in the department. A police report for Heard's arrest was not available.

We don't take that [expletive], so knuckle up!!

mottlet

[hillhunter]

thats an awsome article.

[duck_nutt]

classic......

Elency Erby, 20, said "I just knuckled up."



"I clocked him right in the head," Lester said. "We're taught not to run from anything, even if they were big."



"I ordered Mr. Brown to stop, and he did not comply,". ......I then shot Mr. Brown with my X26 Taser, and Mr. Brown became compliant."..


would have loved to have seen this ...

[weimhunter]

Croom added: "If they are arrested for defending themselves, so be it."
Sounds like a good coach to me!

[go24]

The article made it sound like a little "tribal skirmish".

As for the police, they like to handcuff somebody every now and then. We've all seen those days when the po po just won't be denied

Croom did right this time.

The guy doing all the talk to the newspaper probably should be glad somebody came up in time to save his tail

[mottlet]

This is funny, but in all seriousness, if John Q. Law had to use his "X26 Taser" to subdue a combatant, then this was out of hand and way beyond the polite, you've pissed me off bar brawl. And while I'm on the subject, what ever happened to taking that schit somewhere else? If you feel like you gotta man up cuz some dude stepped on your adidas, that's your business. But please, take it somewhere else, or at least take it outside. If I'm up in the Big Kahuna Beach Club with my girl having a good time listening to Buffett (cuz I'm sure that was what was on the stereo), I don't wanna a couple of rednecks or ghetto trash and their boys messin' up my strategically planned evening. Now there's gonna be a ruckus and cops and probably another fight at some point in the evening. You think it was an accident that Heard was picked up at the same establishment later that night for a separate incident? C'mon man, help a brother get some love and at least take it out to the parking lot (but not next to my truck).

mottlet

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Bottom Line: ya can't field a football team with a bunch of choir boys. Its a tough sport --not for the squeamish. Those same aggressive attributes that are great on the football field, are sometimes not so great out in society ---especially at bars where women are present and alcohol is being served.

I'll go to war with Pittman. I'll go to war with any of the Big Kahuna brawlers.

Damnit, after reading that article, I feel like head-butting a bouncer.