Quarterback Manziel booked by Texas police on assault charge

By Lisa Maria Garza

DALLAS (Reuters) – Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel was booked by police in Dallas County on Wednesday and posted bond on a charge of beating his ex-girlfriend earlier this year, police said.

Manziel had a mug shot taken and posted bond of $1,500, police said. He is set to make his first court appearance in the case on Thursday in Dallas.

The charge handed out by a Dallas County grand jury last month can bring up to one year in prison. It was the latest setback for the former U.S. football star whose erratic play and partying prompted the Cleveland Browns to cut him in March.

His lawyers have said he will plead not guilty.

The grand jury heard evidence about a January incident in which he is suspected of hitting, kidnapping and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, 23.

She accused Manziel of hitting her so hard that she temporarily lost her hearing, court papers show.

In a statement in April made before the indictment, Manziel said: “I’m hoping to take care of the issues in front of me right now so I can focus on what I have to do if I want to play in 2016.”

Manziel, who became known as “Johnny Football” in winning the Heisman Trophy in 2012 as the best player in college football, was chosen by the Browns in the first round of the National Football League draft after leaving Texas A&M University.

The NFL in recent years has sought to toughen its policy toward players involved in domestic violence. League spokesman Brian McCarthy has said if Manziel were to sign with a team he would be “subject to all aspects of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.”

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Matthew Lewis)