A Syracuse University football player was arrested early Sunday morning after a fight with two men on Marshall Street.

Eugene Brown, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound junior defensive tackle on the Syracuse football team, was suspended from the team until further notice, SU head coach Greg Robinson said yesterday.

Officers charged Brown with second-degree assault, resisting arrest, second-degree harassment and disorderly conduct, according to a Syracuse police report. The assault charge is a felony in New York.

Brown, 21, was involved in a fight with two men on Marshall Street early Sunday morning. After being treated for a small cut above his left eye at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Brown was booked at the Justice Center at about 9 a.m. Sunday.

He will be arraigned on the four charges today at 9:30 a.m.

‘It’s unfortunate it happened,’ Robinson said. ‘For a lot of people. I’m disappointed in what took place.’

According to a Syracuse Police news release, officers responded to a report of several men fighting at about 2 a.m. Sunday in front of Acropolis Pizza on Marshall Street.

When officers arrived to break up the fight, Andre Littlejohn, 36, of Hampton, Va., and Theodore Johnson, 47, of Newport News, Va., were ‘easily calmed’ by police, according to the news release. The two men told police they came to Syracuse for the NCAA Regional held at the Carrier Dome this weekend.

Brown, though, didn’t comply with officers. When asked to step back, Brown said, ‘I don’t have to step back, I’m LAPD,’ according to the report. Brown is a Gardena, Calif., native.

When Brown refused to comply with officers, he was told he was under arrest and was ordered to put his hands behind his back. Brown was intoxicated, according to the police report.

Brown refused and eventually police wrestled him to the ground. At one point he spit a large quantity of phlegm at an officer’s face, the news release said.

Four Daily Orange reporters witnessed Brown brace himself against a tree while an officer kneed him repeatedly in the buttocks. An officer also attempted to take Brown’s leg out from under him while he clung to the tree. Finally, officers wrestled Brown to the street, where he lay face down.

‘I saw at least five (police) around him, physically touching him, and there were a bunch of other people trying, too,’ said Jonathon Huette, a freshman management major. ‘It looked unnecessary what was going on. You don’t need to slam his face to the ground.’

At some point during the struggle with police, D.O. reporters saw Brown’s pants down to his knees. While on the ground, Brown was punched by a police officer. Officers also put a mesh bag over his face to keep him from spitting on them again.

Several witnesses at the scene saw Brown’s fight with the police and Brown bleeding on the ground.

‘He had blood gushing out of a wound on his head,’ said Mathieu Unger, a junior film major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. ‘It looked like he was throwing up out of his forehead.’

After Brown was loaded into a police van, an officer poured a liquid out of several bottles onto the pool of blood.

New York State law says that because Brown was charged with a felony, no bail could be set until his arraignment, said Syracuse Police Lt. Joe Cecile. Typically, if a person is arrested during the night, he or she is arraigned the following morning. But because Brown stayed at the hospital until about 9 a.m., he will be arraigned today.

While Brown is suspended from the football team, he may also have issues with the university legal system. SU spokesman Kevin Morrow said any individual charged with a violent crime is placed on interim suspension from the university until the matter is decided within the criminal justice system.

Morrow declined to comment specifically on Brown’s case.

Police said a dispute began in Acropolis Pizza when Brown reportedly began to provoke the two men for no reason, calling them ‘faggots.’ The two men left, and Brown followed them into the street, the news release said. Outside, Brown lunged at the men and they began to fight, the release said.

Acropolis employee Steve Papazides said he saw the three men run through an aisle in the restaurant and out into the street.

Brown, a sociology major, appeared in one game this season for the Syracuse football team against Florida State on Oct. 9. He made the travel roster for SU’s final two road games.

Diamond Ferri, a senior safety for the Orange this past season, was the last Syracuse football player to be arrested. He was arrested on charges of misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest on May 22. Ferri was never suspended from the school or team.

Greg Robinson, who replaced 14-year head coach Paul Pasqualoni in late December, declined to elaborate further on Brown’s case. Except for the second-degree assault charge, the other charges Brown faces are misdemeanors.

‘I’m concerned about Eugene,’ said Robinson. ‘All of our players are accountable for their actions.’

Staff writer Katy Stech contributed to this report.

Published on March 27, 2005 at 12:00 pm