Two Browns were arrested at about 2 a.m. on Christmas
The Christmas holiday probably wasn’t so merry for the Cleveland Browns, who found out two of their players were arrested early Friday morning.
Browns practice-squad safety De’Ante Saunders was arrested for OVI and speeding at 2:16 a.m. Friday, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cleveland 19 News broke the story. Browns linebacker Armonty Bryant was with Saunders. A gun and the prescription drug Adderall was found in the car, the Plain Dealer and Cleveland 19 News reported.
The Plain Dealer said that Bryant could face charges if he can’t produce a prescription for the Adderall. Saunders was charged with drunk driving and speeding, and could be charged with having a gun while drunk, the Plain Dealer said.
As a result of the arrest, Bryant will not play in Sunday’s game at the Kansas City Chiefs and will not make the trip either. Browns general manager Ray Farmer released this statement:
We are aware of the arrests of De’Ante Saunders and Armonty Bryant after a traffic stop early Friday morning.
These are charges that we take very seriously. The importance of responsible decision-making is something we continually stress to all members of our organization, which makes it extremely disappointing that these two individuals would put themselves in this situation by making such poor decisions.
Armonty will be inactive on Sunday for our game against the Chiefs and will not travel with the team to Kansas City so he can tend to this personal legal matter.
In addition to being a pending legal matter, this incident is subject to the NFL personal conduct policy and we have no further comment at this time.
In 2013, Bryant was arrested for a DUI a week after the Browns drafted him. He admitted shortly after he had a substance-abuse problem. He had become a productive player for the Browns, getting 5.5 sacks in mostly a reserve role this season, and hadn’t been in any trouble before Friday.
For the Browns, the sooner their nightmare season can end, the better.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
