According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former Lions TE Brandon Pettigrew was arrested on Monday in Pittsburgh for allegedly punching an officer in the chest three times.
Pettigrew has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, theft of services and public drunkenness.
The incident happened after Pettigrew refused to pay a $97 limousine fare for a ride to Downtown Pittsburgh around 3 am. The driver called the police and said he went into the hotel lobby to distance himself from Pettigrew after he began to argue about paying the fare.
Police told the driver that he could recoup his fare through a magistrate after a report was filed and he elected to leave the scene.
Pettigrew was visibly intoxicated and unsteady on his feet when police approached him and refused to identify himself to officers. Pettigrew was “aggressively arguing” with police and wound up punching one of them in the chest three times. Officers drew their tasers but didn’t fire them at Pettigrew, who was eventually handcuffed.
Last year, Pettigrew was arrested in Oklahoma City this past weekend for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.
Pettigrew, 33, is a former first-round pick of the Lions back in 2009. He was in the third year of his four-year, $16 million contract that included $8 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary of $3.65 million for the 2016 season when he and the Lions agreed to a slightly reworked contract.
Pettigrew was set to make a non-guaranteed base salary of $3.65 million for 2016. However, the two parties agreed to add a $2.2 million salary split while on the PUP list and had $1.2 million of his contract fully guaranteed.
The Lions placed Pettigrew on the PUP list coming out of the preseason, as he was still working his way back from a torn ACL he suffered last year. However, Detroit elected to waive him from the non-football injury list back in December and he never caught on with another team last season.
In 2015, Pettigrew totaled seven receptions for 67 yards receiving and a single touchdown over the course of eight games.
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