Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Malik McDowell was arrested on Monday for public exposure and beating a police deputy in Florida after he wandered naked at a children's learning center while on probation for driving drunk and assaulting a cop in 2019. Video of the arrest shows the 6-foot-6, 295-pound McDowell surrounded by cops in the parking lot while he laid naked.
In the footage, McDowell can be seen without a single article of clothing on his body as officers try to subdue him in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The 25-year-old footballer is accused of exposing himself publicly, resisting arrest with violence, and battery on a law enforcement officer.
Shocking Behavior
According to police, surveillance footage shows McDowell walking naked into Deerfield Beach school known as the Learning Center, while classes were in session. Details about the assault on the deputy aren't available, but the police report says it was a "violent attack" that left the deputy "dazed."
The big-built footballer allegedly punched the deputy after he approached McDowell as he sat on a curb, according to a police report obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
"[McDowell] charged at me ... at full speed with closed fist," the officer said in the report.
"The defendant intentionally rammed his body into me and began swinging closed fist punches at me," the deputy wrote in the report. "The punches were swung with extreme aggression with at least one strike hitting me on my right eye/temple area of my eye."
According to Nan Zamora of Learning Center, police were informed after children saw "a gentleman roaming the parking lot without any clothing on. And he seemed to be not himself." The learning center, which caters to children 6 months to 6 years old, went into a brief lockdown following the obscenity.
After police reached the scene and a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy approached McDowell, he cursed at the deputy and then charged him with a closed fist.
Video of his Monday's arrest shows, officers trying to secure McDowell's legs and arms in shackles before he was placed on a stretcher, covered in a blanket and wheeled away.
At his arraignment on Tuesday, a prosecutor said that 'there is surveillance video that Mr. McDowell actually went onto the property of the Learning Center while naked'.
Serial Offender
This is not McDowell's first brush with the law. He has been a serial offender and spent time in jail a couple of years back although Monday's incident beats everything. However, his attorney has defended him claiming that somebody may have drugged him.
"Somebody may have slipped him something or given him something that he wasn't aware of, which explains some of this bizarre behavior," the attorney told Local10.com.
McDowell, a Detroit native, was arrested in 2019 for assaulting a cop while intoxicated. He ultimately pleaded guilty to assault, resisting arrest, and operating a vehicle while intoxicated in the case. He also admitted to receiving and concealing stolen property on after being charged with driving a stolen truck in April 2019.
He spent 66 days in jail in that incident making national headlines after video emerged showing him fighting with several police officers at a gas station in Lathrup Village, Michigan.
His blood-alcohol level was later revealed to have been more than twice the legal limit.
During that incident, McDowell got extremely violent and police struggled to arrest him. Besides physically assaulting a cop, he also tried to snatch one officer's gun during the altercation. Police had to finally shoot him with an electric stun gun, but he continued his brawl with police.
He is still on probation for the 2019 incident. Brown is set to become a free agent in March, so his latest arrest could cost him his job.
The Browns released a statement on the arrest on Tuesday, saying, "We are aware of the very concerning incident and arrest involving Malik McDowell and are in the process of gathering more information."
The Michigan native was a second-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2017 out of Michigan State, but he was sidelined by an ATV accident before taking the field that year. He then faced multiple legal issues, including an 11-month stay in a Michigan jail.
