CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Browns participant was arrested Wednesday night time and accused of crashing his SUV right into a Florida restaurant after which refusing to cooperate with officers, in response to a police report.
Lonnie Phelps, a defensive finish, was charged with drunken driving and damaging property after the accident on the Pink Shoe Island Bistro, a high-end restaurant in Key West. He refused a breath check, the police report reveals.
Nobody was damage.
Joseph Schroeder, the constructing’s proprietor, estimated the harm at $300,000. He advised cleveland.com and The Plain Vendor that an out of doors lounge was closed Wednesday night time. Had it been opened, he mentioned, a number of folks might have been severely injured or killed. He mentioned the entrance finish of the SUV crashed into the restaurant after the car drove over a sidewalk and missed a palm tree.
A spokesman for the Browns mentioned the group is conscious of the incident and is gathering extra info. He mentioned the group had no additional remark. Phelps spent final season on the observe squad, by no means showing in a sport.
Phelps, 23, drove his 2024 Hyundai SUV into the restaurant shortly earlier than 8 p.m. A police report mentioned he and a feminine passenger appeared drunk or medication after the crash.
The police report mentioned Phelps appeared agitated with officers all through makes an attempt to interview him. He turned away from them throughout a portion of an interview, saying he was afraid he can be shot.
“I requested Phelps the place he was driving from (earlier than the crash), and he mentioned, ‘Proper in entrance of it.’ I re-asked the query 4 occasions in several methods, and Phelps at all times mentioned, ‘Proper in entrance of it.’”
Phelps additionally requested an officer what he had crashed into.
Officers needed to present Phelps a breath check to find out the quantity of alcohol he had consumed. He refused, in response to the police report.
Phelps performed on the College of Kansas and signed an undrafted, free agent contract with the Browns. He signed a one-year contract for $795,000 for this yr.