HollyMatkinMcDonough, GA – A former NFL player allegedly threatened to shoot and kill people following a road rage incident, before he resisted arrest (video below).
Desmond Marrow, 30, posted a short clip of his Dec. 2, 2017 arrest to Facebook on Thursday, The Washington Post reported.
In a caption attached to the post, Marrow claimed that he was “arrested for having a gun that turned out to be my cell phone.”
Even though it’s not possible to book somebody on charges of possessing a cell phone, media outlets ran with his story as the police department didn’t respond to press inquiries.
The incident took place in a shopping center parking lot, after a Henry County Police Department officer witnessed Marrow driving his white pickup truck aggressively behind another vehicle, WXIA reported.
The officer drove into the shopping center, where he made contact with Marrow and “several others” as they argued in the parking lot.
He asked if anyone had been physically assaulted, and at one point told Marrow to stop using profanity, WXIA reported.
One witness at the scene told police he heard Marrow say that he was “going to shoot them.”
According to WSB, police received four separate 911 calls regarding Marrow’s “road rage.”
One of the calls was made by the man who Marrow was chasing.
“This guy behind me, he’s got road rage and he keeps trying to ram into me and he threw a rock at my car,” the man was heard saying in the 911 call, according to WSB. “I had to throw my can of Coke at him to keep him from hitting me!”
According to the police report, Marrow admitted that he should not have chased the man down, but claimed that the man had thrown something at his vehicle, WSB reported.
“I get up to the light, and there comes a cup of coffee – boom – hits my windowsill, and hits me,” Marrow later told WSB.
Police asked Marrow if he was armed, which he denied. They frisked him and did not locate any weapons.
Because Marrow had threatened to kill the other individuals following the road rage incident, officers concluded that he was the aggressor, and places him under arrest for making terroristic threats, obstructing an officer, and driving aggressively.
According to a witness, Marrow resisted their efforts.
“He wasn’t being calm,” Robbie Stinson told WSB. “In his statement, he said he was calm. That’s complete bull. He was not calm. They had to tussle with him to get him in the cuffs.”
The brief video clip did not show the events before or after Marrow’s scuffle with police.
“So you have a minute and a half of video to read into a 30-minute incident,” Stinson told WSB. “You can’t do that.”
Police said that Marrow refused to place his hands behind his back, then would not comply with orders to spread his feet, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
In the video, an officer was heard cautioning Marrow that he was “going to get tased,” if he did not stop resisting their efforts to guide him to another area of the parking lot.
“I just really didn’t know what was happening,” Marrow later claimed to WSB. “All I know is that at one point, I felt like I was dead, or going to die.”
The officer ultimately took Marrow to the ground, where he began to cry.
“I didn’t do anything to you!” he whined while yelling and kicking.
On officer placed his hand on Marrow’s throat, prompting the former football player to launch into a high-pitched voice.
“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” he proclaimed.
As the officer removed his hand, Marrow suddenly closed his eyes, and did not respond to officers. It was unclear whether or not he actually lost consciousness.
He otherwise appeared uninjured, the video showed.
“I was arrested for having a Gun that turned out to be my Cell Phone . During the arrest the police knocked my teeth out, slammed me on my head and choked me out until I was unconscious,” Marrow said in his Facebook post. “In addition I suffered a shoulder strain and a concussion along with the heartache of my Wife leaving me during this Very Hard time for my short comings and careless actions.”
Police said they later attempted to photograph Marrow’s face and head – which they said bore no signs of injury – but Marrow refused, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“This has affected me mentally and impacted my life in a way I can’t even humanly describe,” Marrow continued. “I can’t pay my child support I would love to see my son. I’d take any type of love Bruh it’s real right now.”
One of the Henry County officers involved in Marrow’s arrest was placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation, Captain Joey Smith said on Friday, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“In addition to the criminal case [against Marrow], my office will conduct an investigation parallel to the Henry County Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation,” Henry County District Attorney Darius Pattillo said on Friday. “We are looking at the full video of the incident captured by witnesses, as well as police dash cameras, witness statements, police reports and all other evidence. Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to release further details about the incident.”
Marrow, a former University of Toledo cornerback, was picked up by the Houston Texans and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2012 offseason, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
He was released during the preseason, and hasn’t played for an NFL team since.
You can see the video clip after the arrest below: