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NO CHARGES FILED AGAINST TRUEBLOOD

 
Published July 8, 2010|Updated July 8, 2010

Jeremy Trueblood was released Wednesday from an Indiana jail after prosecutors decided not to file a public intoxication charge against the Bucs' starting right tackle stemming from an arrest Tuesday night, authorities said.

His agent, Tom Condon, said Trueblood was nothing more than an innocent bystander.

Maj. Derek Towle of the Greenfield, Ind., Police Department said prosecutors decided not to file charges against Trueblood or his friend Benjamin McKenny, who was arrested for the same alleged offense.

Trueblood, 27, was belligerent during a traffic stop and declined to provide identification, Towle said. "He would not comply with any of the officer's commands,'' Towle said. Condon denied the allegation.

Once placed under arrest, Towle said, Trueblood was cooperative. He was released from Hancock County Jail after officials determined he no longer was intoxicated. It was not known what Trueblood's blood-alcohol level was when he was arrested; jail policy requires individuals to have a 0.00 blood-alcohol content before being released.

The events that led to Trueblood's arrest apparently started when, after playing golf at a local course, the tackle and McKenny opted not to drive home because they had been drinking. Trueblood called his mother, Wanda, to drive them home, police said.

On the way, they stopped at a gas station, and that's where Towle said the trouble began. The station's clerk called police, accusing two customers of acting disorderly. The clerk said they were knocking items off shelves and throwing cup lids, and had bumped into a woman holding a small child.

The clerk called 9-1-1 and reported a possible case of drunken driving. An officer was dispatched, and the officer stopped the car driven by Trueblood's mother. It was determined that his mother was not drunk. Police said they planned to issue citations because the car's occupants weren't wearing seat belts. That's when officers said McKenny and Trueblood became uncooperative.

"If they would have cooperated, he might have just gotten a citation for no seat belt and that's all," Towle said.

But Condon, the agent, said Trueblood wasn't in the store at all. He said others in Trueblood's party were and there were three vehicles of friends and family who had played golf.

Condon said that when police arrived, Trueblood was asked to get out of the passenger seat of the vehicle and was cooperative. He said his client was taken into custody because police determined he had been drinking.

Trueblood could not be reached for comment. Trueblood, drafted by the Bucs in 2006, signed a one-year, $1.75 million contract in May. He is a native of Indianapolis.

FORMER BULL AGREES TO DEAL: Former USF receiver Carlton Mitchell, 22, agreed to terms with the Browns, the Dayton Daily News reported. The sixth-round draft pick (177th overall), who left after his junior season, has a four-year deal, the newspaper said. Financial details were not reported.

BIG DEAL FOR BRICK: Pro Bowl left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson agreed to a contract extension with the Jets, according to various reports. ESPN said Ferguson gets $34.8 million guaranteed, which would pass the Dolphins' Jake Long for the most guaranteed money for an offensive lineman. The deal is a six-year, $60 million extension to his rookie contract, the Associated Press reported, so Ferguson is due $73.6 million over the next eight years. In other news, Jets offensive lineman Vladimir Ducasse became the first 2010 second-round pick (61st overall) to sign, agreeing to a four-year, $3.25 million contract, FoxSports.com reported.

VICK CONFRONTATION: Eagles quarterback Michael Vick got into a confrontation and had to be restrained by friends and placed in a limousine minutes before someone was shot near the nightclub hosting his 30th birthday party June 25, the prosecutor in Virginia Beach, Va., said. Police have said Vick was not the shooter. "There were some confrontations between individuals and between groups, and Michael Vick was involved in one of those confrontations," Commonwealth Attorney Harvey L. Bryant said. "(It was) a confrontation that involved shouting, words passing, some bumping." He said friends restrained Vick and put him in a limo, but Vick got out again to confront someone. Police have not identified the shooting victim, but an attorney for Vick has said it was Quanis Phillips, a co-defendant in the dogfighting case that sent Vick to prison. Bryant said the investigation showed that Vick "was not aware of whether or not anyone was going to be shot, was threatened to be shot or anything to do with any of that business."

JAGUARS: Oft-injured defensive end Reggie Hayward was released after five seasons.

Information from Times wires was used in this report.