Manziel tosses water bottle at heckler during PGA event
May 31, 2015, 2:06 PM
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Troubled Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel threw a water bottle at a heckler in an incident that didn’t lead to any arrests or charges at the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament.
Manziel had been turning away autograph requests from the fan for about two hours Saturday during the third round when an exchange escalated in the pool area of the Four Seasons Resort where the PGA Tour event is held, Irving police spokesman James McLellan said.
The water bottled missed the 18-year-old male, and someone who was with Manziel pushed the fan, leading officers to intervene, McLellan said. The fan declined to press charges, and McLellan said no police report was filed.
Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner at Texas A&M, was recently released from a 10-week stay in rehab and is going through offseason workouts with the Browns. He’s expected back in Cleveland this week.
McLellan said there was no indication Manziel had been drinking.
In November, a Browns fan alleged that he was attacked by “Johnny Football and his entourage” at a downtown Cleveland hotel where Manziel was living at the time. McLellan said it wasn’t clear what caused the latest incident to reach a point where Manziel responded by throwing the water bottle.
“He threw it toward him but it missed him and I think it was just as much fault on the part of the person that was heckling him to escalate things to that point,” McLellan said. “Johnny didn’t really have any kind of a complaint to make. If he did, he didn’t say anything.”
The Browns declined to comment on the incident, and his agent didn’t return text messages.
Manziel had a rough rookie season after the Browns drafted him 22nd in the first round in 2014. He was the backup to Brian Hoyer most of the season and played poorly in two starts. Now he’s the backup to Josh McCown as he tries to prove he deserves a chance to be the starter.
The 22-year-old Manziel hasn’t spoken to reporters since his release from a facility in Pennsylvania that specializes in issues with substance abuse. He has faced questions for several years about his active nightlife and was repeatedly photographed drinking alcohol during weekend trips to Las Vegas after he was drafted by Cleveland.
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