Florida State RB Mario Pender dismissed after domestic battery arrest
Florida State Seminoles running back Mario Pender was dismissed after he was arrested on felony battery charges.
Florida State’s running back depth could lose one member after Mario Pender was jailed in Leon County on Saturday on complaints domestic battery by strangulation, a third-degree felony, and resisting an officer/obstruction without violence, according to Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times.
According to the report, the Tallahassee Police Department would only confirm Pender had been arrested but would not provide any details.
The accusations are ugly enough and that was all Jimbo Fisher needed to kick the reserve running back off the team.
“Mario Pender has been permanently dismissed from the football team following his arrest earlier in the day,” the school released in a statement. “The Athletics Department will have no further comment at this time.”
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Pender was arrested in 2011 when he was a senior in high school after the police report says he struck his girlfriend with a right backhand in a dispute.
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Last July, Fisher dismissed quarterback De’Andre Johnson after the state’s attorney released video of him striking a woman at a Tallahassee bar.
Fisher let due process play out with that case after he indefinitely suspended Johnson in June and was charged with misdemeanor battery on June 24. Johnson turned himself into Tallahassee police on June 30. One week later the video was released which prompted the dismissal. Fisher didn’t need to wait this time.
Running back Dalvin Cook was also acquitted in court after he was accused of hitting a woman at a different bar than the Johnson incident one day after his incident occurred.
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Pender would have competed for a reserve spot behind Cook Jacques Patrick who had 314 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman last year. Pender missed most of last season with a collapsed lung he got in practice was held out of spring practice. He had 349 yards on 71 carries and five touchdowns over 12 games in his career.