CSUF Football Player Shot Outside Barroom : Brawl: An off-duty policeman wounded a Titan defensive end in an incident that resulted in the arrest of two players, including NFL prospect Mike Pringle.

A Cal State Fullerton football player was shot by an off-duty police officer Thursday during a brawl outside a bar that resulted in the arrest of two other Titan players, including star running back and National Football League prospect Mike Pringle.

Clarence Siler, a 6-foot, 4-inch, 240-pound defensive end from Daytona Beach, Fla., was shot in the right shoulder and was in fair condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

The fight marked at least the third time that Cal State Fullerton football players have been involved in barroom brawls.

In April, 1988, an El Toro Marine was beaten to death during a fistfight with two Titan players. Last month, another fight involving players broke out at a campus pub, resulting in the suspension of two players for spring practice, which is currently under way.

More than a year after the beating death of Marine Sgt. Richard William Bottjer, the district attorney’s office announced it would not file charges against the players, calling the Marine’s death “an excusable homicide” brought on by the victim’s own drunken belligerence.

After Bottjer’s death, Fullerton head coach Gene Murphy included a rule in the team playbook that declared: “Local bars are off limits. You are under the microscope--under scrutiny by the media, the community, Fullerton police, campus police and school officials. Failure to comply with this rule will result in missing a game or games or dismissal from the team.”

School officials had no comment on Thursday’s incident. “We’re waiting for more complete reports from the Fullerton Police Department before making any comment,” said Jerry Keating, a spokesman for CSUF President Jewel Plummer Cobb.

Pringle, who in his senior year last season led the nation in all-purpose yardage with 2,690 yards, was arrested on suspicion of assault. The 22-year-old Fullerton resident is expected to be picked in the later rounds of the NFL draft this weekend.

Andrew Fears, a 21-year-old defensive end who Murphy said was one of the players suspended after last month’s pub brawl, was also arrested on assault charges. Denise Hernandez, 22, of Anaheim was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.

The altercation began about 2 a.m. inside the Carnivale Club nightclub in the Orange Fair Mall in Fullerton when a woman who was apparently accompanying an off-duty Pasadena police officer had an argument with a female friend of the football players, authorities said.

When the confrontation between the women became physical outside the club, the officer “tried to break it up,” Fullerton Police Sgt. Danny Becerra said.

When the officer, identified by Pasadena police as 23-year-old Darin McBride, tried to separate the women, about eight or 10 people apparently attacked him, the sergeant said. Most people in the group were current or former Titan football players, Becerra said.

“It appears that they had the officer on the ground and began hitting and kicking him in the head,” Becerra said. That’s when McBride grabbed his .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and fired three or four rounds, he said.

After the shooting, several of the combatants fled, police said. Only Siler was hit.

The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the latest incident, as it does all officer-involved shootings.

Pringle, who was released from Fullerton Jail on Thursday night, said he did not assault the officer.

“Two girls were fighting by my brand-new car, and I didn’t want that, so we tried to break it up,” Pringle said. Once the altercation moved away from his 1990 Nissan 240SX, “my involvement was over,” he said.

Pringle said when the fight moved to another part of the parking lot, the officer, “was rushed by a bunch of people. I saw him pull (his gun) and shoot once. I ran.

“The cops asked me if I saw anything, and I said yes. The next thing I know, I was being arrested for assault,” he said.

Titan coaches Thursday said they were troubled by the incident.

“I have no idea what we are going to do. (The police) are still investigating the whole thing,” said Murphy, a finalist for the vacant head coaching position at San Jose State University.

“Things like this are never enjoyable,” he added. “The question is ‘Do you know where your kids are?’ and that’s not for me to say. I’m not going to try to defend myself. I want to find out what happened first and then make a statement. I don’t know who’s at fault.”

Defensive coordinator Kirk Harmon, who visited Siler in the hospital Thursday, said: “The good news is that Clarence is alive. That’s the most important thing.”

Harmon said Siler told him that he”was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was an innocent bystander” to the shooting. “Clarence told me that the (officer) tried to shoot him four times,” Harmon said. “He said there was a crowd of people who started running when the guy pulled the gun. He tripped and was the last guy running when the officer started firing at him.”

Siler, 23, was an honorable-mention selection in the Big West Conference.

FAMILY PLEA--The mother of a Marine killed in a brawl with CSUF athletes wants the case reopened. A32