Police arrest former NFL player Alonzo Spellman

January 30, 2008

Alonzo Spellman, a former National Football League player, was arrested Tuesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma after a twenty minute car chase with police. Officers used "spike sticks" that flattened three tires on Spellman's car, but he refused to get out until officers fired pepper-spray pellets into the vehicle.

Spellman was hospitalized and had to attend psychiatric evaluations after being involved in a police standoff at the home of his publicist in 1998. In 2003 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to interfering with the crew of a Delta Air Lines flight from Cincinnati to Philadelphia.

Spellman, a six-foot, 300 pound first round draft pick out of Ohio State made his NFL debut in 1992 with the Chicago Bears. He was also a team member of the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, recording 43 sacks in 123 games. Spellman agreed to a contract with the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena Football League (AFL) in October of 2005.