Former MSU Star Keith Appling Arrested For Third Time This Year
DETROIT (WWJ) - Former MSU basketball standout Keith Appling arrested late Sunday night in Detroit.
According to Detroit police Appling was pulled over on a routine traffic stop while driving in the Seven Mile and Russell area and apparently the incident escalated with Appling fleeing the scene and throwing a weapon from his car.
The police report states that as officers approached the car a strong smell of marijuana was noticed.
Appling's attorney Cyril Hall telling WWJ's Laura Bonnell that he presumes his client is innocent but is disappointed to hear about the third arrest of client, Keith Appling.
"Very sad to hear this -- of course we always explain to clients to stay out of trouble and not have any interaction with law enforcement," says Hall.
Hall says Appling was stopped Sunday night and he disputes some of the facts coming from police. He says he did not hear anything about his client trapping an officers arm in the car window when he was stopped at 7 Mile and Russell in Detroit.
"There was no drugs found in the car, marijuana in particular, my understanding and no gun found in the car," said Hall, "the car was searched and based on the individuals that were there - they didn't see a gun being retrieved from the interior of the vehicle."
The police report from the incident states that Appling threw a Gucci backback out the window at some point after he took off from the traffic stop. Police searched and found a backpack with a loaded Beretta handgun, Nike tennis shoes and a bond order from the city of Dearborn -- in which Appling is named as defendant.
Hall says Keith called his mom as he was being pulled over, she went to the arrest area and took photos or video. Hall says they're waiting to see if the prosecutor will issue a warrant and if so, then he would be arraigned.
Appling's arrest comes about six weeks after he spoke to WWJ's Bonnell at the Horatio Williams Foundation in Detroit, where he was mentoring neighborhood kids.
The former basketball player told her that making mistakes is okay.
"Nobody is perfect -- we all make mistakes, sometimes it's crazy as it sounds but it's okay to make mistakes because it's not often that you don't learn from them," said Appling at the time.
Appling played more than 140 games as a Spartan during his time at Michigan State. Not including today's arrest, he was arrested twice this past year-- both times involving weapons charges.
