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Brady HendersonESPN
Former Seattle Seahawks draft pick Malik McDowell is facing charges of assault, resisting arrest and operating while intoxicated stemming from a February incident in Michigan in which he allegedly fought with two police officers after being stopped on suspicion of drunken driving, according to a police report obtained by ESPN.
Additionally, McDowell faces a separate charge from April of receiving and concealing stolen property, court records show.
McDowell was scheduled to appear Thursday in Oakland County Circuit Court.
The Detroit News first reported on both cases. They come amid a lawsuit filed by the Seahawks against McDowell in late May seeking the repayment of nearly $800,000 in forfeited signing bonus money.
The police report from McDowell’s Feb. 18 arrest in Lathrup Village, Michigan states he was pulled over after speeding, spinning out and driving recklessly. McDowell pulled into a gas station and “had a strong odor of intoxicants emanating” from his body and refused to show the officer his driver’s license while repeatedly asking for a supervisor, according to the police report. The officer attempted to arrest McDowell when he walked into the gas station, where McDowell “began actively fighting” the officer, the report states. The officer unsuccessfully attempted to subdue McDowell with a Taser.
That officer and a second officer who arrived during the incident both stated that McDowell attempted to grab their guns during separate moments of the struggle.
McDowell was chosen 35th overall by Seattle out of Michigan State in 2017 but never played a down for the team after suffering a head injury in an ATV accident that summer. He spent two seasons on the Seahawks’ non-football injury list before being waived with an injury designation in March.
McDowell’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said at the owners meetings in March that McDowell had been medically cleared to resume football by an independent doctor.