For the second time in less than a month, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs has been arrested in Alabama. Buggs, a former Alabama standout, was booked early Sunday morning on a second-degree domestic violence charge and a second-degree burglary charge.
Officers responded to a 911 call at 5:28 a.m. CT from the 1600 block of Mimosa Park Road, according to police records. Buggs has been released on $5,000 bond, according to Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office records.
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The Chiefs are aware of Buggs’ arrest and declined to comment. In late May, Buggs was accused of animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa, Ala., according to a civil petition filed Wednesday and obtained by The Athletic.
Tuscaloosa police received information on March 28 about two dogs left on the back porch of a home that investigators found was rented by Buggs, per the petition. Witnesses said Buggs recently moved out of the home, and investigators determined Buggs’ lease was terminated in April due to owing more than $3,100 in back rent.
When police and animal control officers arrived at the residence, they found a pit bull on the screened-in back porch surrounded by feces, and a Rottweiler mix locked in a cage in direct sunlight — both without access to food or water, the petition said.
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Chiefs' Isaiah Buggs accused of animal cruelty
The dogs were taken from the home due to being “severely malnourished, emaciated, neglected and the residence appearing to be abandoned,” per the petition. An animal shelter later euthanized the pit bull after it became increasingly aggressive and failed heartworm treatment, while the Rottweiler mix — which arrived at a low weight of 52 pounds and tested positive for a viral illness — remains at the shelter, the petition said.
Authorities obtained two misdemeanor warrants against Buggs for second-degree cruelty to dogs or cats, with the petition requesting the court set a hearing date within the next 10 days to determine whether Buggs is fit to have custody of the Rottweiler mix.
In a statement to The Athletic on Wednesday, Buggs’ agent, Trey Robinson, denied the allegations and said the charges are part of a “concerted effort” by the city of Tuscaloosa and its police department “to besmirch Mr. Buggs’ name and reputation as part of an ongoing subversive campaign to force the close of his local business Kings Hookah Lounge.
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“These efforts are not new as Mr. Buggs was arrested at his business on misdemeanor charges on two separate occasions in the past two months, but each time no public record was made of these arrests,” Robinson said in an email. “Rather, the city used the threat of pursuing and publicizing both the allegations filed today and these arrests as leverage against Mr. Buggs by offering to drop and not pursue them in exchange for his voluntary surrender of his business license.”
At the time, the Chiefs declined to comment on the allegations. A request for comment from the Tuscaloosa Police Department was also not returned.
Buggs, 27, signed a futures contract with the Chiefs in February after spending last season on their practice squad. He played two seasons with the Detroit Lions and three with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers selected Buggs in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. In his NFL career, Buggs has recorded 89 tackles and two sacks.
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(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
