Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – Cleveland Browns backup quarterback Johnny
Manziel is in the headlines again for all the wrong reasons.
The most recent incident took place at an apartment complex early Saturday
morning, according to a police report obtained by CleveScene.com.
An eager Browns fan sparked a massive fight at The 9, a high-end apartment
complex in Cleveland where many pro athletes live, when he approached Manziel
for a hug.
Cleveland police were reportedly called at 2:36 a.m. early Saturday
for a report of a “riot” involving 20 men and two security guards. The alleged
victim, 33-year-old Chris Gonos, saw Manziel while waiting for an elevator.
Gonos pointed Manziel out to his girlfriend and started to approach the
quarterback. According to the report, “at this time victim stated to the
unidentified male, ‘I’m the biggest Browns fan ever, I love you, I want to
give you a hug.'”
Gonos was promptly punched in the face by Manziel’s crew, giving the man a
“swollen lip, right eye swollen, (and) red face.”
CleveScene got the following comments from Gonos:
“Yeah, it actually all started through me. We had a room — it was my
brother’s birthday — so we were staying at the Metropolitan at the 9. We
partied there, and at the end of the night I was going back up to my room, and
I noticed the guy. I was like, ‘Man, that’s Johnny Manziel.’ They were trying
to keep it quiet, keep it low, and I was like ‘Johnny Football!’ I was just
excited. But anyways, I went to give him like a handshake, or dap or whatever
you want to call it, one of his buddies like tackled me. It was going down, a
whole bunch of people started fighting. It ended pretty quick.”
“I got a bruised hip and a bruised elbow, and somebody hit me in the back of
the head, too. My brother saw what was going on and he ran he tackled Johhny
Manziel — I guess he got the sack and the fumble. He tackled him, yeah, I’m
talking about he speared him all the way to the back wall. I was cornered; I
was by myself and Johnny Manziel and like three or four of his buddies were
all coming at me. (My brother) just came to help me out, and I guess Johnny
sucker-punched him while the security guard was holding him. It should be all
on video.”
“No [one was arrested], like 20 officers came and I was sitting in the lobby
because I did not do anything wrong but be a fan. All these cops run into the
lobby, and they’re like, ‘Who was fighting, who was fighting?’ and I just
raised my hand, and was like, listen, watch the camera, and stuff like that.
“I may be guilty of being a fan, but that’s about it. I even showed them the
guy that sucker-punched me and the cops walked right up to him, talking to him
for a while, and they let us all go. They just told me I had to leave the
hotel, and me and my ride, we left. Manziel never punched me, but he got a
sucker-punch on my brother.”
“I know somebody else in the group smashed Johnny right in the face. Smashed
him, smashed him. I watched the whole game to see if we could spot him on the
sidelines.”
Browns general manager Ray Farmer released the following statement:
“We are aware of the incident and are in the process of gathering additional
information in order to gain a complete understanding of what occurred.
Nonetheless, the time of the incident is concerning to us. We continually
stress to all of our players the importance of sound decision-making in an
effort to avoid putting themselves in these types of situations. We have
addressed this appropriately with the player and will have no further comment
at this time.”
Manziel, selected with the 22nd overall pick in May’s draft, was fined $12,000
by the NFL for a hand gesture (flipping the bird) that he made in a preseason
loss to the Washington Redskins.
