NFL Draftee May Elude Trial With Probation

Mike Pringle, a former Cal State Fullerton football star who faces misdemeanor assault charges in a nightclub brawl in which another player was shot, may avoid a trial by agreeing to three years of probation, his attorney and the prosecutor said Friday.

James Sims Jr., Pringle’s attorney, said he expects that a deal will be worked out by Tuesday, the scheduled date for the opening of his client’s trial. He said an agreement would allow Pringle to remain in Atlanta, where he has reported to the Atlanta Falcons’ pro football training camp.

“Everything is fine,” Sims said. “Mike won’t be facing any trial or jail time, and he won’t have to come home.”

Pringle, 22, who signed a contract with the Falcons on Thursday, had been scheduled to appear in Municipal Court in Fullerton to face charges in an alleged beating of an off-duty police officer at a Fullerton nightclub last April.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Clyde Von Der Ahe said because they are misdemeanor charges, Pringle does not have to appear, but his attorney must be present.

Von Der Ahe said Friday that his office may ask Sims whether Pringle would enter into an agreement similar to that of former Titan football player Andrew Fears. Fears, 21, was also charged in the April 19 assault and sentenced to an informal three years’ probation and ordered to pay a small fine.

Sims would not speculate about what kind of plea Pringle would enter but said he wants to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

According to police, Darin McBride, an off-duty Pasadena police officer, was tackled and kicked in the head by five or six people, most of them Cal State football players, after he tried to break up a fight between two women in the parking lot at the Carnivale Club, 1401 S. Lemon St.

During the scuffle, McBride shot Titan defensive end Clarence Siler, who was treated at UCI Medical Center in Orange and later released.

Pringle, who majored in criminal justice, was charged with being one of the men who hit McBride during the scuffle.

Pringle has denied being involved in the fight and told a reporter shortly after the incident that he was merely trying to stop the two women from fighting.

“Two girls were fighting by my brand-new car, and I didn’t want that, so we tried to break it up,” he said.

Once the altercation moved away from his 1990 Nissan 240-SX, Pringle said, “my involvement was over.”

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.”

While playing for Cal State, Pringle was named the Big West Conference offensive player of the year last season. But the league later found that he had played the season while on probation in a criminal allegation. Regarded highly by professional scouts, he was picked by the Falcons in the sixth round of the National Football League draft. He set a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record for single-game rushing, with 357 yards last season against New Mexico State, only to see the mark broken by another athlete the next week.

But Pringle still holds the NCAA record for yards in two consecutive games, 626 against New Mexico State and Long Beach State last season.

Ken Herock, director of player personnel for the Falcons, said Pringle told him the issue would be resolved shortly.

“The whole thing (charges) all sounds like a misunderstanding,” Herock said from Atlanta. “Right now, Mike wants to get on with his professional football career and leave this mess behind him.”