Malik McDowell has seen his once-promising football career go down the drain because of a non-football injury and several legal issues, the most recent of which resulted in a police officer using a Taser on the former Michigan State star.
McDowell was arrested in Michigan back in February following a traffic stop in which an officer witnessed his jeep speeding and spinning out on a snowy night. The officer asked McDowell to stay seated in his vehicle, but he refused and demanded to speak with a supervisor. The 23-year-old then continued to ignore orders and got out of the car and started to walk into a convenience store.
At that point, the officer grabbed McDowell and attempted to detain him, but McDowell continued to ignore orders. When the officer told him to lay on the ground on his stomach and put his hands behind his back, McDowell refused and instead sat down with his hands in front of him. The officer warned him several times that he was going to be tased, and eventually the weapon was used.
McDowell, who is 6-foot-6 and weighs 300 pounds, then began to tussle with the officer until backup arrived. TMZ obtained surveillance footage from the store and the police dash cam that showed most of the altercation.
The backup officer who helped subdue McDowell said in a police report that McDowell “grabbed for my gun as I was trying to grab his arm.” McDowell was charged with two counts of felony assaulting and resisting, one misdemeanor count of operating while intoxicated and misdemeanor driving on a suspended license.
That was not the first time McDowell became combative with police, as he was also shown on video cursing at officers who arrested him outside a nightclub back in 2017.
McDowell was drafted by the Seahawks in the second round back in 2017, and he never played for them after an ATV accident kept him out. He has since been wrapped up in a legal war with the team over his signing bonus.
