OSU DL Sprinkle faces cocaine/rioting charges

7/6/2014

COLUMBUS — An Ohio State football spokesman today confirmed the indefinite suspension of Tracy Sprinkle as details of the second-year defensive end’s weekend arrest in suburban Cleveland began to emerge.

Sprinkle, a 19-year-old Elyria native, was charged with cocaine possession, rioting, and failure to disperse after a brawl in a Lorain bar that police described as “absolute mayhem.”

He was arrested early Saturday morning and remained in custody as of late this afternoon, according to a Lorain jail official. The OSU spokesman said Sprinkle’s future with the team will be decided when the charges are resolved.

According to the incident report, officers in Lorain responded at 2 a.m. Saturday to a call about a fight at the Grown & Sexy Lounge. They came upon “large pockets of people fighting in the parking lot” and a scene of destruction inside. The report described more fighting, chairs being thrown, an overturned pool table, broken overhead lights, and smashed beer and liquor bottles.

All available officers soon arrived, along with backup from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Police said they spotted Sprinkle arguing in the lot with a bloodied, shirtless 23-year-old man named Wayne Blue. According to the report, Blue said he was looking to fight because Sprinkle had struck him in the face with a bottle — an accusation Sprinkle denied to police.

Officers arrested Blue for rioting, and told Sprinkle to leave. His friends that were holding Sprinkle back told police, “We got him.” But Sprinkle was soon spotted in a separate altercation and arrested.

The drug charge was added when police switched Sprinkle from one cruiser to another. An officer spotted two small plastic bags of cocaine — each weighed 0.2 grams — stuffed under the back seat, the report said.

A redshirt freshman, Sprinkle was expected to compete for time in the Buckeyes’ deep defensive line rotation this fall. He was named 2012 Ohio Division I co-defensive player of the year after recording 103 tackles and 19 sacks as a senior at Elyria High.