BOSTON — Former NFL player Gosder Cherilus was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly drunkenly hitting one man and urinating on another passenger during a flight from Boston to Dublin, Massachusetts State Police said Monday.
The 40-year-old Cherilus, a first-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2008 who also played for the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was arrested early Sunday after the Delta Air Lines flight returned to Logan International Airport.
Troopers ordered Cherilus, from Wakefield, near Boston, to leave the plane but he “became irate and uncooperative,” police said. He was then arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing a flight crew.
According to the police report, he appeared drunk when he boarded the plane, allegedly argued with the flight crew about his seat, and an hour into the flight urinated on an elderly passenger. He then hit another passenger and took that passenger’s seat before passing out, the report says.
The Boston Globe said Cherilus was arraigned Monday in East Boston District Court.
“It’s pretty egregious what you did, as alleged,” Judge Debra A. DelVecchio told Cherilus.
Cherilus issued an apology on Instagram on Monday, saying he took “a sleeping medication that I don’t normally use, which resulted in behavior that is not representative of my character.”
In a statement Monday, Delta confirmed that there had been an “unruly customer” on the flight and that the other passengers were later flown to Dublin. The airline did not say how long the flight was delayed, but Cherilus said it was “approximately four hours.”
“Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful behavior and will cooperate with law enforcement to that end,” the company said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.