Dante Fowler Jr. also arrested in 2016 according to report

With news surfacing of Dante Fowler Jr.’s recent arrest on Tuesday evening, another arrest from 2016 was brought to the forefront.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have their hands full in regards to public relations given the recent arrest of their prominent former first round pick Dante Fowler Jr. on Tuesday evening.

Unfortunately, things aren’t getting easier as now reports have unearthed a previously unknown arrest in 2016.

"Court records also show that Fowler was arrested in Miami Beach in March 2016 and charged with misdemeanor counts of assault against a police officer and resisting arrest without violence. Those charges were dropped in December 2016, as would normally be the case after completion of a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders. Being involved in such a diversionary program could impact Fowler’s ability to have Tuesday’s arrest handled in similar fashion.The arrest report from Miami Beach states that officers were trying to break up a crowd in front of the Fat Tuesday bar on Ocean Drive, and Fowler ignored verbal requests to move off the road. An officer put his hand on Fowler’s arm, and Fowler said “Get the f— off me” and swung his arm backward at the officer “in an obvious attempt to strike” him, according to the report. Fowler went back into the crowd despite warnings from police that he was under arrest, and it took “numerous officers” to escort him out for his arrest, with no further incident, according to the report.The Miami Beach arrest came 17 days after TMZ posted a video showing Fowler watching a violent fight between his girlfriend and an ex-girlfriend, for which he later apologized."

Given the timing of the last arrest and the public embarrassment from the leaked TMZ video of another odd encounter, it’s safe to assume the Jaguars were aware of Fowler’s previous arrest.

The snippet from the report that will impact Fowler’s availability is in the first paragraph – since Fowler already used the pretrial intervention program for a prior arrest, there’s a good chance this one won’t be handled the same way.

The way this will be handled is somewhat moot, as we are now seeing evidence mount that shows Dante Fowler Jr. can be prone to troublesome incidents. One arrest that gets dropped isn’t going to send anyone in a panic, but another incident that leads to an arrest is worrisome. The nature of the arrests aren’t the most sinister, but they show extremely poor judgement at best.

We should all be focusing on how Fowler can improve on the field to help the Jaguars, but that certainly won’t be the main topic in the next week or so.