FULLERTON : Athlete Sentenced in Nightclub Brawl

Mike Pringle, a former football star at Cal State Fullerton, pleaded no contest to assault charges Tuesday and was sentenced to a three years of informal probation and ordered to pay $250 in fines.

Orange County Municipal Court Judge John W. McOwen read the sentence to Pringle’s attorney, James Sims Jr. Pringle was in Georgia at the Atlanta Falcons’ pro football training camp.

Pringle, 22, who agreed to the sentence in a written document, was charged with misdemeanor assault stemming from an April 19 nightclub brawl.

Sims, who is also Pringle’s contract negotiator, said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.

“It’s time for Mike to get on with his life and career,” Sims said. “Unfortunately, this thing was blown way out of proportion.”

Pringle’s sentence was similar to that given to former Cal State Fullerton football player Andrew Fears, 21, for the same brawl.

According to the Fullerton 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 Fullerton 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.

Fears and Pringle then allegedly joined the others in attacking the police officer.

While playing for Cal State, Pringle was named the Big West Conference offensive player of the year last season. But the league later learned that he had played the season while on probation at Cal State Fullerton. That probation stemmed from a previous arrest. Those charges were later dropped.

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 last season for single-game rushing, with 357 yards against New Mexico State.