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Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Byron Pringle was arrested on April 23 in Florida and charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and driving with a suspended license, Heavy confirmed through online records from the Pasco County court.
According to the arrest report, Florida Highway Patrol pulled Pringle over Saturday evening near Meadow Pointe Drive in his hometown of Wesley Chapel after the arresting officer “observed a large cloud of smoke in the area of the median break” so thick it “reduced the visibility to nearly zero for traffic” and “heard the sound of squealing tires.” The officer observed Pringle’s orange 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat “emerge from the smoke,” according to the report, and saw “a series of tire marks on the roadway consistent with a vehicle performing ‘a donut’.” After pulling Pringle over, the officer noted that “the area of the real wheels had fresh rubber particles attached the orange body panels.”
According to the police report, Pringle was identified as the driver and had two passengers, a male child in the back seat and an adult male in the front seat. TMZ reported that the child was Pringle’s son.
When Pringle’s license was run in the system, the police found it had been suspended in February for “financial responsibility,” according to the police report, and in March was issued another suspension for “failure to pay a traffic fine.”
Pringle was transported to the Pasco County jail “without further incident.”
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Pringle Signed With Bears After Starting NFL Career in KC
The Chiefs lost a key member of their offense on March 17 when Pringle signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Chicago Bears, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Pringle, a Kansas State product, entered the NFL undrafted in 2018. He joined Kansas City that year and would land on injured reserve following the 2018 preseason. After being cut, he landed on Kansas City’s practice squad but was not active for any games during the 2018 regular season, per Pro Football Reference. From thereon he ascended from the bottom of the depth chart to a key piece of the Chiefs’ passing attack during the 2021 season.
Last season, Pringle had career-highs in targets (60), catches (42), receiving yards (568) and receiving touchdowns (5). The best game of his career came in Kansas City’s Week 15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers when he caught 6 passes on 7 targets for 75 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Now, Pringle will play for the Bears, who have former Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles as their general manager, and 2021 first-round pick Justin Fields as their quarterback. Pringle should qualify as a compensatory pick for the Chiefs in 2023.
Time will tell if Chicago and/or the NFL will additionally punish Pringle following his arrest.
Twitter Reacts to Pringle’s Arrest
Twitter users reacted to Pringle being arrested just days ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.
“So the #Bears sign one WR to a decent-sized contract, and that one guy is Byron Pringle, who does donuts on a public road with a kid in the car. Off to a great start!” Jacob Infante of Windy City Gridiron wrote.
“Ima be honest I don’t think Byron Pringle will get an punishment worse than a fine and maybe a short suspension and it won’t cause the Bears to change course at all,” Jeremy Layton of the New York Post wrote.
“If there’s a silver lining in the Byron Pringle news, it’s that it happened BEFORE the #NFLDraft. The #Bears can do their due diligence and determine if WR is more of a need now than it was yesterday (not saying it is, but at least the timing allows them to figure it out),” Bryan Perez of the Draft Network wrote.