Malik McDowell mentor gives more details after former Spartan's arrest
More information has emerged since the bizarre arrest of former Michigan State star Malik McDowell last Friday.
Police arrested the Cleveland Browns defender for public exposure and beating a deputy, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The police report, which the Sun-Sentinel obtained, said it was a “violent attack” and the deputy was left “dazed” as a result.
Reggie Wynns, Malik McDowell’s former high school coach, spoke to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the incident this week. Wynns spoke to McDowell after the arrest.
“He said he doesn’t remember anything,” Wynns said. “He doesn’t remember nothing. He was so emotional. It had me in tears, because he was trying, trying, trying so hard.”
The Browns starter’s lawyer posited that McDowell may have taken laced drugs prior to the incident.
Wynns hopes that a toxicology report will help explain what drove McDowell to take to the street naked.
“I don’t know if someone laced him or what,” Wynns said. “I don’t know. That’s not him at all. All I’m hoping is that when they test him, they figure out that he had been drugged.
“You don’t do a great job for 17 games starting for the Cleveland Browns and then go to a training facility, and then you’re walking down the street [naked] and doing what he did. That doesn’t make sense to me.”
The Browns defensive tackle is still on probation in Michigan. He faces charges on public exposure, resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.
Malik McDowell faces criminal charges again
Malik McDowell was a two-time second-team All-Big Ten nominee at Michigan State and flourished under Mark Dantonio. He burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2014 with 15 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 13 games for the Spartans. That earned him Freshman All-American honors from the Football Writers Association of America. As a sophomore the next year, FOX Sports named him an All-American.
After receiving a first-round projection for the 2017 NFL Draft, he ended up going No. 35 overall to the Seattle Seahawks.
Prior to his rookie year, he was in an ATV accident and suffered multiple injuries. Then, in September 2017, police arrested McDowell for driving under the influence and sentenced to 12 months probation. In December 2017, police booked him again for disorderly conduct. Seattle waived him in July 2018.
In February 2019, McDowell was involved in an altercation with police in Michigan. The authorities charged him with assault, resisting arrest and operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Although he wasn’t on a team, the NFL suspended him for the first two weeks of the 2019 season as a result. He got 11 months in prison that May, as well. The NFL suspended him for two games after that.
McDowell worked out for the Miami Dolphins in 2020 and returned to football this past year with the Cleveland Browns. He played in 15 games, including 14 starts, at defensive tackle.