Video of Morrison’s arrest released; sheriff says warning was more appropriate

Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison, already with one legal run-in this summer, was arrested over the weekend for perhaps the strangest reason we’ve seen this offseason: barking at a police dog.

The arrest quickly netted the sophomore a two-game suspension, but now there’s question whether Morrison should have been arrested at all. Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell told the Gainesville Sun that a warning, not an arrest, was probably the more appropriate action for the Sunday morning incident.

From the Sun:

During an interview Monday afternoon, Darnell told The Sun that she believed the deputy was technically correct that Morrison could be charged under the law that prohibits taunting police animals, but she stated that, given the obscure nature of the law and the fact that Morrison was probably unaware of it, a warning would have been more appropriate.

The Sun also has a shortened version of the dashboard video for the arrest -- as in, a short eight minutes long -- which you can view below. The video does not, however, contain Morrison barking like a dog [/sad face].

“Let me simply explain something to you,” arresting deputy William Arnold can be heard saying to Morrison in the video. “I’ve been listening to you for a few minutes, and here’s the problem I got with this, all right? My dog is watching my back and their back. Stop talking. When you walk up to the window and say something to him, you distract him if I need him. So if I open my door remotely with this push button, he’s coming out to you and not to me when I need him. That’s the end of the story. That’s interfering, harassment and teasing a police dog while he’s engaged in his duty. That’s what you’re being arrested for. All right?”

The linebacker was officially charged with interfering with police by harassing a police animal. There has been no official change in his status with the Gators despite Darnell’s comments.