South Bend, Indiana – A Notre Dame football player viciously attacked a South Bend police officer on Saturday, and he even pulled off the officer’s duty belt before being subdued.
Police were responding to a fight outside of a bar on Saturday when they located two women fighting. Notre Dame cornerback Devin Butler shoved one of the women and he was ordered by officers to back away. Butler then pushed the officers and the launched a full assault on one of them.
Devin Butler tackled an officer, punched him in the sides and stomach, and pulled off his duty belt. Officers on scene were able to use a taser to disable Butler long enough to get him under control.
St. Joseph County Prosecutor Kenneth P. Cotter said that while Devin Butler could possibly face charges of resisting law enforcement and battery to a police officer. Chicago Sun-Times reports that Cotter is seeking additional time from the court to investigate this case to “determine whether formal charges are appropriate.”
Apparently tackling a law enforcement officer, repeatedly striking him, and ripping off his gun belt may not meet charging standards for the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office.
Maybe it’s OK because Butler apologized on his way to the jail because, “he had been incredibly emotional and intoxicated.” Or maybe it’s just because Butler is a football player and college student.
Butler’s arrest comes just one day after Indiana State Police arrested five of his teammates during a traffic stop. A trooper stopped a car for speeding, 35 miles south of South Bend. The trooper smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle, and after a subsequent search of the vehicle, the trooper located marijuana and a firearm.
The five occupants of the vehicle were arrested for possession of marijuana and possession of an unlicensed firearm. The suspects were identified as cornerback Ashton White, starting safety Max Redfield, wide receiver Kevin Stepherson Jr., linebacker Te’von Coney, and runningback Dexter Williams,
Notre Dame spokesman Paul Browne told Chicago Sun-Times that “any student arrested on a felony charge also faces dismissal from the university.”
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly has dismissed starting free safety Max Redfield from the team and placed senior cornerback Devin Butler on indefinite suspension Sunday following the arrest of both players earlier in the weekend.
Redfield, a senior, is a former five-star recruit who had three interceptions and 64 tackles in 2015 — the most of any returning Notre Dame defender.
Kelly added that the players could face further discipline depending on the legal outcome of their cases, as well as any punishment handed down by the university.
“At Notre Dame, where we place so much importance on the integration of students who are athletes into the broader university, the primary responsibility for discipline lies, as it should, with the University’s Office of Community Standards,” Kelly said. “But even within that system, there are times when a player’s conduct so clearly fails to meet the standards I have set for our football team that it is appropriate to take action independent of any decision that might be made by the Office of Community Standards. This is such an instance.
“The expectations we set for the members of our team are high, but they are especially so for the upperclassmen who are expected to provide leadership and a positive example to the other members of the team. Max and, at least at this stage in the review of his case, Devin, have failed in that regard and so have lost the privilege of continuing to be part of our team.”
Freshman free safety Devin Studstill will start in Redfield’s place in the season-opener against Texas. Butler is sidelined until mid-October with a foot injury. After a strong offseason, Williams is expected to be part of a three-man running back rotation that includes Tarean Folston and Josh Adams. Stepherson is in the two-deep at wide receiver, while Coney is the backup Will linebacker. White was not in the two-deep.
Redfield’s dismissal ends the former five-star high school prospect’s tumultuous career riddled with inconsistency. He was sent home during bowl-week preparation last December for violating team rules.
Redfield, Coney, White, Williams and Stepherson were all charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana Friday night after a State Police officer conducted a traffic stop in Fulton County. Redfield, Stepherson and Williams face an additional misdemeanor charge of possession of a handgun without a license. The five were held overnight at Fulton County Jail and released early Saturday afternoon.
In a separate incident, Butler was arrested shortly after midnight Saturday and faces two preliminary felony charges of battery on a police officer and resisting law enforcement, according to St. Joseph County police. Both preliminary charges are level 6 felonies, although a judge granted the State an extension to further evaluate the case and the charges, and it has until Aug. 24 to file charges against Butler.
“Any student arrested on a felony charge also faces dismissal from the university,” Notre Dame vice president for public affairs and communications Paul Browne said Saturday in a statement. “The university will determine if additional sanctions should apply to any or all of the students charged.”
South Bend officers were dispatched to the Linebacker Lounge bar shortly after midnight Saturday, according to court documents. A scuffle had taken place, but no one wanted law enforcement involvement and the officers began to walk back to their car, the document said. Officers then heard women screaming at each other, turned around and allegedly watched a woman kick another woman in the head. Before officers could apprehend the alleged assailant, Butler intervened and forcibly shoved the alleged aggressor in the head and body, the document said.
Officers pushed Butler away from the woman and ordered him to stay back, but he instead cursed at police and approached them, the document said. Butler pushed one officer, tackled him to the ground and struck him in the side and stomach as he continued to curse, according to the document. Butler then allegedly ripped off the officer’s duty belt, at which time the officer struck and tased him. Butler allegedly injured the officer’s wrist, arm, back, neck and elbow.
Butler apologized to officers as he was being transported and added he had been “incredibly emotional and intoxicated,” the document said.
Bond was set at $10,000 corporate surety or $1,000 cash, the document said. The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24 at 1:15 p.m. ET in St. Joseph County Superior Court.