Ex-NFL OL Richie Incognito accused of threatening funeral home staff
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Former NFL offensive lineman Richie Incognito bonded out of an Arizona jail Tuesday after being arrested on charges he threatened to shoot employees of a funeral home a day earlier, authorities said.
Police in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale said Incognito had been booked on suspicion of misdemeanor charges of threats and disorderly conduct.
Incognito, 35, posted a $20,000 bond. He has an Aug. 27 pretrial conference in Scottsdale Municipal Court. It was unclear Tuesday if Incognito had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Police said Incognito was at the Messinger Pinnacle Peak Mortuary on Monday to make arrangements for his father, who died last weekend.
“Incognito reportedly was upset with staff and began to damage property inside the business and shout at employees,” said Sgt. Ben Hoster, a police spokesman. “At several points during his contact with staff, Incognito threatened to retrieve guns from his vehicle and return to shoot the employees.”
A police report showed officers later executed a search warrant on Incognito’s pickup truck and seized two Glocks, three rifles and a silencer for a handgun.
The report also said Incognito’s family had told him he wasn’t going to be allowed to attend his father’s funeral and he had been acting erratically.
Witnesses at the funeral home told police that Incognito wanted them to cut his dead dad’s head off for research purposes and Incognito punched caskets, threw pamphlets around and took an urn from a shelf and slammed it down on top of a casket.
Two mortuary employees took cover in a room downstairs before police arrived and arrested Incognito.
Incognito attended a Phoenix-area high school before playing college football at Nebraska and having an 11-year NFL career with St. Louis, Miami and Buffalo.
He was released by the Bills three months ago from the reserve/retired list, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Incognito was suspended by the Dolphins in 2013 for bullying a teammate and arrested last May in Florida for allegedly throwing a dumbbell and tennis ball at another gym patron.
