Michael Floyd violated terms of his house arrest, TMZ reports
Despite a troubling extreme DUI arrest and conviction, former first-round pick Michael Floyd got another chance. Two, actually.
The former Notre Dame receiver was claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots following his arrest, after the Arizona Cardinals cut him. Then, when Floyd was a free agent this offseason, the Minnesota Vikings signed him.
That chance with the Vikings could be in jeopardy after a report from TMZ that Floyd violated terms of his house arrest and could face more jail time as a result. TMZ reported that Scottsdale City Court confirmed Floyd’s alcohol monitoring system flagged five events June 11-12. At least three were “high alcohol tests,” TMZ said. Floyd could not have alcohol during his house arrest.
A court rep told TMZ Floyd blamed the tests on kombucha, a tea with a slight amount of alcohol. Floyd’s breath tests came back with a blood-alcohol content between .044 and .055, TMZ said.
Floyd pleaded guilty to extreme DUI last February and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. The sentence included 24 days in county jail and the remaining time in home confinement. Despite being on house arrest, he was signed by the Vikings in May. It was a modest one-year, $1.5 million deal.
The Vikings put out a short statement after the news broke.
#Vikings statement on WR Michael Floydhttps://t.co/U20HmoiVKr pic.twitter.com/NpLae0cyNk
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 16, 2017
Shortly afterward, Floyd strongly denied the report. “The whole thing is false,” Floyd said. “You can’t believe everything TMZ says.” Floyd’s agent, Brian Murphy, indicated that the false positive was because of kombucha tea, which contains about 0.5 percent alcohol in most cases. “There was one issue and they kept testing him,” Murphy texted the Twin Cities Pioneer-Press. “This is all because of that healthy drink. Nothing more.”
The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport added the following:
Michael Floyd’s flagged alcohol tests all occurred on June 11 between 5:30 am and 6:35 am. He told court officials it was from Kombucha tea.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 16, 2017
Here is the full statement from Floyd’s agent, which he gave to Rapoport, on what happened:
Michael Floyd started his 96-day home monitoring on March 13, 2017. During this time period, Michael was tested a minimum of six times per day. For the first 90 days, Michael’s blood alcohol content was 0.0 for all of his 500 plus tests.
On June 10, 2017, Michael watched movies at his place of residence until 3:00 a.m. During that time, he drank several bottles of kombucha tea drinks, unaware that the drinks contain alcohol.
On June 11, 2017 at 5:30 a.m., Michael was tested and his blood alcohol content was .055. Michael was tested again at 5:54 a.m. and his blood alcohol content was down to .045. Michael was tested again at 6:23 a.m. and his blood alcohol content was .044. He then went back to sleep and missed a test at 6:33 a.m.
Michael was five days away from the end of his home monitoring. Prior to and after this incident, Michael has not had any alcohol whatsoever since the start of his home monitoring. Unfortunately, the kombucha teas that Michael did drink resulted in a positive blood alcohol content reading. As a result, the Court wishes to hear from Michael on June 26. At that time, Michael will have an opportunity to explain how this unfortunate test result happened.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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