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Football

Two Syracuse football players arrested early Sunday morning

UPDATED: Dec. 2, 2012, 5:31 p.m.

Two Syracuse football players were arrested Sunday morning and spent the night in jail, according to police reports. Steve Rene, a junior running back, and Marquis Spruill, a junior linebacker, were arrested around 12:20 a.m. on the 800 block of Livingston Avenue.

Rene, 21, was booked and lodged for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Spruill, 21, was booked and lodged for disorderly conduct and second-degree harassment, according to the reports.

According to the police report, both Rene and Spruill appeared to be in an intoxicated state.

“We are aware of the situation, and we will handle it in the appropriate fashion,” Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said in a statement through the athletic department.



When reached on their cellphones, Spruill declined to comment and Rene hung up.

It began when Rene stood in the southbound driving lane of Euclid Avenue, according to the police report. He was yelling at people, and the report says he told an officer, “F*** this shit, f*** you.”

The report says the officer ushered Rene to the side of the street, and after a few minutes he returned back to the roadway, this time in the intersection of Livingston Avenue and Euclid Avenue.

Rene was waving his arms as if to fight someone, according to the report, and this is when the officer approached him for a second time. He seemed “extremely angry,” according to the report.

The officer approached Rene and grabbed his shirt in an attempt to secure his position. It was at this time that Spruill attempted to pull the officer away from Rene, the report said.

The first officer pushed Spruill away, and another officer came to secure the position. The report says the officers had difficulty handcuffing Rene. And Syracuse Police Department Sgt. Tom Connellan said one of the officers had a muzzled police dog that helped get Rene into custody.

Rene and Spruill were placed in the back of a Syracuse police car.

While officers were questioning Rene, Spruill kicked the inside of the car in an aggressive manner. He kicked the rear door open at one point, nearly striking an officer in the face, according to the report.

On Saturday evening, Spruill posted a photo to his Instagram account, sprui11z, with a picture of two gin bottles and a Syracuse shot glass. His caption of the picture read as follows: “We gettin super trippy tonight mane!!!!!”

Spruill is a starting linebacker for the Orange and is fourth on the team in total tackles. He moved from the middle linebacker position to an outside linebacker spot prior to the beginning of the 2012 season. He was an All-Big East Second Team selection in 2011.

Rene began the season as the team’s punt returner, but he struggled mightily in that role. Marrone replaced him as the starter following a loss to Rutgers in which Rene fumbled a punt.

It was announced two weeks ago that Rene will miss the rest of the season due to an upper-body injury that required surgery.





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