Three Mississippi State players arrested in nightclub fights

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Posted 6:06PM on Tuesday, July 26, 2005

COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) Coach Sylvester Croom says no disciplinary action is planned for now against three Mississippi State players who ended up in police custody following two separate confrontations at a nightclub here. Arrested in July 8 fights at Big Kahuna's Beach Club were defensive end Titus Brown and reserve defensive back De'Mon Glanton. Both were charged with disorderly conduct. Also, according to police, defensive end Michael Heard was arrested on a simple assault charge for his alleged role in another fight about an hour later at the same bar. Attempts to contract the three players on Tuesday were not immediately successful. Authorities said two Columbus brothers who apparently were involved in the fight Lester and Elency Erby were not charged. Elency Erby said he threw the first punch after determining the a group of football players were reading to beat him. ``They looked like they were fixin' to get me, so I started swinging,'' Elency Erby, 20, told The Clarion-Ledger. The 6-foot-3, 234-pound Brown had to be subdued with a stun gun when officers moved in to stop the fighting, according to the police report. Croom, in a statement released by the school Monday, said that if his players were ``arrested for defending themselves, so be it.'' Heard and Glanton were released after posting $350 bonds. Both pleaded guilty on July 20 and paid $350 fines. Brown's case was scheduled in court on Wednesday, court records show. Brown, a sophomore, started five games for the Bulldogs and had 59 tackles and 1-1/2 sacks. Heard, 6-foot-2, 256-pound junior, started seven games and had 32 tackles. Glanton, a defensive back, redshirted last season. Elency Erby said the fight started when it appeared one of his friends was having an argument with ``a bunch of big dudes,'' who he later learned for football players. He said he tried to stop the confrontation but that his efforts angered some of the players. Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)