A former NFL player accused of beating a man while intoxicated and urinating on a woman during a flight from Boston to Dublin has been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, Massachusetts State Police said Monday.
Gosder Cherilus, a first-round pick of the Detroit Lions who also played for the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was arrested Sunday morning after the Delta flight returned to Logan International Airport.
Officers ordered the 40-year-old man from Wakefield, near Boston, to leave the plane, but he became “angry and uncooperative,” police said. He was subsequently arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and disrupting the flight crew.
According to the police report, he appeared intoxicated when he boarded the plane, argued with the crew about his seat, and urinated on an elderly woman an hour into the flight. He then punched another passenger and took that passenger’s seat before passing out, the report said.
According to the Boston Globe, Cherilus was arraigned in East Boston District Court on Monday.
“What you have done, as alleged, is quite outrageous,” Judge DelVecchio told Cherilus.
According to The Globe, he and his attorney, Brian Sullivan, did not speak to reporters as they left the courtroom.
In a statement on Monday, Delta confirmed that there was an “unruly customer” on the flight and that other passengers were flown to Dublin later. The airline did not say how long the flight was delayed.
“Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful behavior and will cooperate with law enforcement to achieve that goal,” the company said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”