DuckSouth.com

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.