Bears WR Byron Pringle arrested after allegedly doing donuts with child in car
Chicago Bears wide receiver Byron Pringle was arrested on Saturday after Florida Highway Patrol allegedly found him doing donuts in his car on a state road with a small child in the backseat.
Pringle, 28, was spotted after an officer saw a cloud of smoke and smelled burning rubber on a road about 30 miles from Tampa.
“I observed a large cloud of smoke in the area of the median break,” Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Justin Bloom wrote in an arrest report. “I heard the sound of squealing tires and saw the cloud of smoke, which reduced the visibility to nearly zero for traffic on the westbound lanes of State Road 56.
“I could smell the distinct smell of burnt rubber as I proceeded to turn around in the same median break,” Bloom wrote. “I observed a series of tire marks on the roadway consistent with a vehicle performing” a donut.
Pringle's Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, a car that costs upward of $60,000 if purchased new, allegedly emerged from the cloud of smoke. Bloom approached Pringle, who allegedly became verbally confrontational and wouldn't listen to commands. According to the report, there was an adult man in the passenger seat and "and a male juvenile child in the left rear seat." The report did not reveal the identity of either the passenger or child or their relationship with Pringle.
Pringle arrested and booked for reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. Neither Pringle or the Bears have commented about the arrest. Pringle, who spent the first four years of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Bears back in March.
