Posted on 05/27/2006 12:02:49 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) FORT WORTH, TEXAS Former TCU wide receiver Cory Rodgers, drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fourth round of the NFL draft, faces gun charges after his arrest Friday, authorities said.
Rodgers, 23, was taken into custody along with two TCU football players after Fort Worth police broke up a brawl at a bar in the historic Stockyards early Friday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Officers heard two shots fired and found Rodgers in the back seat of his car with a .40-caliber handgun and ammunition. TCU safety Eric Buchanan and wide receiver Quentily Harmon were in the front seat of the car, police spokesman Lt. Dean Sullivan said.
Rodgers was arrested on misdemeanor charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon and discharging a firearm. He was released Friday evening on $2,000 bail, jail officials said.
Buchanan and Harmon were arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and were released from jail Friday morning, according to police.
Police say Rodgers fired into the air from the parking lot outside the club. Buchanan and Harmon told police the gun was fired to scare a group of men who were throwing beer bottles because Rodgers refused to give them an autograph.
A phone number for Rodgers couldn't immediately be found Friday.
About 50 to 60 people were involved in the brawl, which included bar patrons using pool cues and beer bottles as weapons.
Some 20 officers responded to the bar around 2 a.m. and six people were arrested, including Rodgers and the two TCU athletes. Two people were shocked with stun guns for failing to obey officers.
Initial reports said a fight broke out between TCU players and gang members, but police say they haven't found any connection between the two.
After police broke up the fight, a man told them that he and his friends had been assaulted by gang members. Two of those men were taken to the hospital but no arrests connected to their report were made, police said.
"These are seemingly two isolated, but coincidental incidents," Sullivan said.
TCU head football coach Gary Patterson said he was disappointed and that appropriate action would be taken against the two players.
When we were kids lots of people could be looked up to.
I think it's our turn to set the standards
"When I was a kid professional athletes were people we looked up to. Whatever happened to that?"
Charles Barkley said he's not a role model.
Isn't discharging a solid-projectile weapon into the air a bit dangerous? Unless he was using snake loads or something, I'd think his bullets would have to land somewhere.
> Isn't discharging a solid-projectile weapon into
> the air a bit dangerous?
Absolutely, but when it comes to Legacy Media and firearms,
it's risky to assume that ANYTHING in the story is even
correct (entirely apart from what they omit, slant and spin).
Packers PING
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