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NFL Player Richie Incognito Arrested For Allegedly Threatening To Shoot Funeral Home Staff
Richie Incognito was reportedly making arrangements for his father’s funeral when he began behaving erratically and threatening employees.
NFL free agent Richie Incognito was arrested in Arizona after allegedly threatening workers at a funeral home, according to multiple reports.
Incognito, formerly of the Buffalo Bills, announced via Twitter on Sunday that his father had died on Saturday. The 35-year-old athlete was arranging his father’s funeral at the Messinger Pinnacle Peak Mortuary in Scottsdale when police were called to the scene, ESPN reports. A spokesperson for the Scottsdale Police Department confirmed to the outlet on Tuesday that Incognito had grown upset with staff and began shouting at them and destroying things.
“At several points during his contact with staff, Incognito threatened to retrieve guns from his vehicle and return to shoot the employees,” police told ESPN.
The department confirmed to NBC Sports that Incognito had been arrested on Monday on counts of disorderly conduct and threats, and is currently in custody. According to the outlet’s sources, Incognito made employees at the funeral home feel “incredibly uncomfortable” prior to his arrest by “acting erratically,” and at one point mimed a “gun gesture” at an employee before informing them that he did have guns in his vehicle. Those weapons were later impounded, NBC Sports’ source claims.
Monday’s incident is the latest in what has become a pattern of troubling behavior for Incognito. Shortly after his release from the Buffalo Bills in May, Incognito spent three days in a mental health facility following an explosive incident at a Boca Raton, Louisiana gym, ESPN reports. Incognito allegedly threw objects like weights and tennis balls at others present at the gym and verbally attacked them, even telling one patron to get out of his “playground,” the Chicago Tribune reports. He also claimed to be working for the National Security Agency, and told officers that he was being spied on, according to the Tribune.
Earlier this month, Incognito also fired off an inflammatory tweet calling Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer a “F---ING LIAR” after Zimmer denied Incognito’s claim that the team was interested in signing him, Deadspin reports. He later apologized.
A 2014 investigation found that Incognito was one of three Miami Dolphins players who had engaged in racist bullying and harassment of offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, according to ESPN.
[Photo: Richie Incognito during a game between the Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. By Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images]
