SUFFOLK, Va. — Marcus Vick, the quarterback who was dismissed from the Virginia Tech football team last week after troubles on and off the field, was arrested and charged Monday with three misdemeanor counts of brandishing a firearm.
The 21-year-old turned himself in at the Suffolk magistrate's office Monday afternoon and was released on a $10,000 bond. Vick's next scheduled court appearance is Thursday, his attorney said. If convicted, Vick could face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for each charge.
Shortly after 9 Sunday night, Suffolk police were called by the mother of a 17-year-old boy. She reported that Vick "had pointed a weapon at her son and two others during an altercation" in the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant, said police Lt. D.J. George.
Vick was with his girlfriend at the restaurant and told police she had had an argument with three people.
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When he confronted them about it, the trio said Vick pulled out a handgun, police said.
During an interview with police at his mother's Suffolk home Sunday night, Vick denied having a gun. Police have not recovered a weapon.
Larry Woodward, Vick's attorney, said, "I'm not going to answer any questions about the nature of the case."
Reached by phone shortly before turning himself in, Vick's response to questions about the incident was to hang up. Calls to Vick's mother's home went unanswered.
The football coach at Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer, and the university's athletic director, Jim Weaver, did not immediately return calls.
The arrest is the latest incident in a tumultuous two-year stretch for Vick.
On May 14, 2004, he was charged with three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced to 30 days in jail, which he avoided on appeal. That charge was the result of a party that included three teenage girls, during which Vick provided alcohol.
On July 3, 2004, after Vick was pulled over on Interstate 64 in New Kent County for driving 88 in a 65-mph zone, he was charged with possession of marijuana. One month later, he pleaded no contest to the drug charge, received probation, had his operator's license suspended and was booted out of school and off the football team for the 2004 season.
Under a last-chance, zero-tolerance agreement with Virginia Tech, Vick returned to school and his team in January 2005. As the quarterback, he led Tech to an 11-2 record and received All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors.
But during Virginia Tech's Gator Bowl victory over Louisville, Vick stomped on an opposing player, drawing intense national scrutiny and criticism.
As school officials and coaches were trying to decide on his punishment, it was revealed Friday that Vick had been pulled over in Hampton for speeding and driving on a suspended license on Dec. 17. That was the final straw for Virginia Tech, and president Charles Steger announced Friday afternoon that Vick had been permanently dismissed from the football team.
That night, Vick told The Virginian-Pilot that he was planning to turn pro.
Jeff King, who caught 26 passes and a team-high six touchdown passes from Vick this season, was surprised to learn about Vick's latest round of trouble.
"That sounds a little out of character of the Marcus that we know," King said Monday. "I hope things clear up for him. He's given up a big opportunity."
