The Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant, was arrested on domestic violence charges and is free on bond after an incident in DeSoto, Texas.
The DeSoto Police Department told NFL.com that Bryant was arrested Saturday and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence.
The incident reportedly involved a woman with whom Bryant had been romantically involved.
The Cowboys issued a brief statement Monday night after being made aware of the incident.
“We are in the process of gathering information and will not have a comment at this time,” Dallas team spokesman Rich Dalrymple said in the statement.
Bryant confirmed the incident to WFAA-TV in Dallas on Monday, but he would not go into specifics.
“I’m good. I’m good,” he said.
In Texas, family violence is an attack or “a threat” of imminent harm against a member of a family or household. It’s a punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Details of the arrest were scarce, and DeSoto officials will not release any records relating to the incident until Tuesday, according to WFAA.
The run-in with law enforcement was the second in six months for Bryant and the latest in a string of off-field problems for the third-year receiver from Oklahoma State.
Bryant, 23, was detained and questioned by Miami police in January after a fight at a South Beach nightclub. He was not arrested or charged in the incident that involved rapper Lil Wayne and his entourage.
The latest incident would certainly seem to contradict comments Bryant made at a team workout last month in which he said he was focusing solely on football this offseason.
“On the field and off the field, I try to make the best choices possible, and I feel like I’m doing a great job of that,” Bryant told the Associated Press.
Bryant received a criminal trespass warning in March 2011 after refusing an order from off-duty police officers to leave a Dallas shopping mall.
A week after the incident at the mall, Bryant was hit with a pair of lawsuits that alleged he owed a jeweler and ticket broker more than $600,000 for custom-made jewelry and tickets.
Last December, reports emerged that Bryant owed a New York-based finance company $50,000 and was allegedly refusing to repay a loan to Endurance Capital Fund.
Bryant emerged as a dependable receiver this past season for the Cowboys, showing marked improvement in every stat from his rookie year. He finished second on the team in catches (63), receiving yards (928) and touchdowns (nine).
Bryant’s improvement on the field and a renewed focus on conditioning and film study led Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to praise the receiver’s maturation.
“He certainly is different as far as his maturity and as far as his understanding of what it takes to play in the National Football League than when he got here,” Jones said last month.
There was no word on what Jones thought about Bryant’s maturity after Saturday’s arrest.
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