Saturday, September 22, 2007

FLORIDA STATE SUSPENDS TWO


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida State suspended two football players Friday after they were arrested in a bar fight that resulted in felony charges against one of them.

Junior linebacker Geno Hayes and senior fullback Joe Surratt were arrested early Friday at a bar near the Florida State campus, police and school officials said. Police said Hayes had to be subdued with a Taser and Surratt struck a police officer.

Surratt, 21, was charged with a felony count of battery on an officer. Hayes, 20, was charged on three misdemeanor counts: assault on an officer, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly conduct, Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie said.

Both players were released on bail Friday, officials said.

"The student-athletes have been suspended per our athletics department student-athlete code of conduct policy, until all of the facts of the incident are reviewed," Florida State Athletics Director Dave Hart said in a statement.

Officers were on duty outside Potbelly's Bar looking for underage drinkers when they noticed a man later identified as Hayes screaming profanities and waving his arms, a police report said. When officers tried to talk to him, Hayes became aggressive, police said.

Hayes was pulled away by his friends, but he resisted when officers then tried to handcuff him, leading an officer to stun him with his Taser, police said.

Police said Surratt was standing nearby and officers felt he was interfering with the arrest. An officer pushed Surratt away, and he responded by striking the officer, police said.

A spokesman for Florida State's athletics department said the school didn't know if either player had a lawyer and the players weren't made available for comment. The team wasn't practicing Friday.

Hayes is the team's second-leading tackler with 19, and Surratt led Florida State with six rushing touchdowns last year but is sidelined with a broken leg.

Florida State is off this weekend, and next plays Alabama in Jacksonville on Sept. 29.

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