(KMOV) -- A NFL player and former local high school standout has been arrested by St. Louis police.
Laurence Maroney, 25, was held on unlawful weapons charges and drug charges. Maroney was released from jail early Tuesday morning.
News 4 confirms he and five other men in their mid-twenties were in a vehicle pulled over by officers late Monday night near Chaifetz Arena. Maroney and his friends had three guns on them.
Maroney is a back-up running back for the Denver Broncos. He was traded at the beginning of the 2010 season by the New England Patriots who drafted Maroney in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft. Maroney lettered for the Normandy High School Vikings in football, baseball, basketball and track. Click here for a link to his NFL profile page.
Maroney's publicist Jane Higgins told News 4 that Maroney was not with the car involved in the high speed chase. He just happened to be behind the car, ‘by pure coincidence.’ He has a permit for the gun, but the permit was in a wallet that wasn't on him. He believes the police made a mistake in arresting him.
Here is Higgins' written statement:
Police mention nothing about a high speed chase in their report. They say around 10:30 Monday night, "three vehicles were circling Chaifetz Arena and causing traffic to slow when the persons in the vehicles repeatedly stopped the vehicles in order to talk to passersby. Several of the occupants of the vehicles were observed smoking what was believed to be marijuana. Officers stopped two of the vehicles but a third fled from police and was not located."
