Aug. 19 (UPI) – Gosder Cherilus, a former lineman who played in the NFL for nine seasons, faces multiple charges in federal court. He is accused of urinating on an elderly woman for about 20 seconds during a flight from Boston to Ireland.
On Monday, the 40-year-old resident of Wakefield, Massachusetts, appeared in East Boston District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of disturbing the peace, interfering with flight crew and resisting arrest.
Delta Flight 154 left Logan International Airport at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Sunday, more than 3 1/2 hours late. It returned to Boston at 2:33 a.m., according to airline data posted on FlightAware.
“Delta flight 154 from Boston to Dublin on August 17 returned to Boston Logan due to an unruly passenger and was met by police,” a Delta spokesperson told WFTX. “Delta does not tolerate any unlawful behavior and will cooperate with police in this regard. We apologize to our customers for the delay to their travel.”
The plane was 36,000 feet above Halifax, Nova Scotia, when Cherilus approached a 78-year-old Maine woman in seat 4C, “fully exposing his genitals and began urinating on the elderly woman, emptying his entire bladder within approximately 20 seconds,” court documents say.
Due to this “outrageous behavior” of the 1.98 meter tall and 127 kilogram suspect, “all the passengers were in a state of shock, alarmed and feared for their safety,” the police report states.
Witnesses tried to intervene “by grabbing his hands from his genitals and demanding that he return to his seat,” the documents say.
Cherilus then confronted a 68-year-old Utah man in seat 3D, and the man “began arguing about the seat” and “slapped him with his right hand,” court documents state. Cherilus returned to his seat 3D, “where he passed out,” according to the arrest report.
Flight 154 arrived at Terminal E. Massachusetts State Police and Customs and Border Protection officers then boarded and confronted Cherilus.
“Officers verbally ordered Cherilus to exit the aircraft, but he became angrier and refused to cooperate,” MSP said. “Officers eventually escorted Cherilus to the jetway and arrested him for disturbing the peace and disturbing the flight crew.”
Cherilus was selected 17th overall in the 2008 NFL Draft. He played 132 games in nine years for the Lions (2008–2012), the Indianapolis Colts (2013–2014) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2005–2016) after playing at Boston College.
“After much thought, prayer and conversation with loved ones, I have decided to retire from the NFL,” Cherilus wrote on Twitter in March 2017.
