Vereen arrested after fight : govolsxtra.com

University of Tennessee Police Department officers were responding to a fight outside Gibbs Hall early Monday morning when freshman running back Daryl Vereen was arrested and charged with public intoxication, according to the UT police report released Tuesday.

“... at about 0304 hours this officer responded to a fight in progress consisting of an estimated 10 people outside of Gibbs Hall,” the report reads. “Upon my arrival I noticed several subjects fighting in the fire lane of Gibbs Hall. Upon getting out of my vehicle the subjects begin to break it up and return inside the dorm.”

The report goes on to state that Vereen was noticed trying to get into the driver’s side of a dark blue Jeep Cherokee that was parked in the fire lane outside Gibbs Hall. After several requests from the officer to stop were unheeded, the officer caught up with Vereen, the report states.

Vereen was ordered out of the vehicle.

“Mr. Vereen had a bloody lip and had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from and about his person and breath. His speech was very slurred and he had blood shot eyes. ... Mr. Vereen was unsteady on his feet,” the report states.

Vereen was taken into custody. An unidentified friend drove his car to a legal parking spot on campus. The keys were later returned to Vereen.

A release is expected from Tennessee football head coach Phillip Fulmer this afternoon.

This is the second incident in less than two weeks concerning UT’s football program.

Freshman receivers Gerald Jones and Ahmad Paige were charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana following a traffic stop Jan. 11 in the Fort Sanders area. Police found marijuana in a vehicle driven by Jones, 18, and registered to Paige, 18.

Freshman defensive lineman William Brimfield and Jameel Owens, a wide receiver from Muskoegee, Okla., on campus for an official recruiting visit, also were in the vehicle.

Neither Brimfield nor Owens was charged.