South Alabama Safety Zach Brownell Arrested on 24 Charges After Campus Vehicle Damage
South Alabama starting safety Zach Brownell was arrested Thursday on 24 charges after university police said 22 vehicles were damaged in a campus parking lot. He has been suspended indefinitely from the football team.
MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama starting safety Zach Brownell was arrested early Thursday morning and charged with 24 offenses after university police said 22 vehicles were damaged in the Delta parking lot on campus, according to police.
The 19-year-old faces 22 counts of criminal mischief, along with one count each of public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Brownell has been suspended indefinitely from the Jaguars football team pending an investigation. The charges are accusations, and Brownell is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
What Police Said
Norm Gamache said university police were called to the Delta lot shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday on a report that someone was damaging vehicles, and officers arrested Brownell at the scene.
According to campus police, Brownell had been drinking and pulled or broke mirrors off the vehicles. Police said three or four of the vehicles also had broken windows, and described the damage to most of the cars as “small-time vandalism.” One of the damaged vehicles belonged to teammate Chris Pugh, police said.
Brownell was booked into Mobile Metro Jail and released Thursday afternoon on $17,000 bail.
University Response
South Alabama athletic director Dr. Joel Erdmann said the department takes such incidents seriously.
“I think all of our programs and all of our coaches and the entire department is very centered on basic principles of tremendous citizenship and graduation and competing to the best of our ability,” Erdmann said. “All of our student athletes and everybody in our department is very sensitive to that and so we do examine things like this very deeply and take it very seriously.”
Keith Ayers said Brownell will not be suspended from classes. Under university procedures, a case like this is subject to a nonacademic conduct review, and a student found responsible for a serious enough offense could face dismissal from the university.
Brownell’s Background
A native of Prattville, Ala., Brownell started all seven games at safety during South Alabama’s inaugural football season in 2009. He led the Jaguars with five interceptions and ranked second on the team with 27 tackles.
In high school, Brownell played on three state championship teams and took part in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic.
The arrest came as South Alabama wrapped up its second spring practice period under head coach Joey Jones, ahead of the program’s second season in 2010.
