Sheffield Spends Time in Jail After Fight With Policeman

San Diego Padre third baseman Gary Sheffield spent about 13 hours in custody Wednesday after a scuffle with a Houston police officer in the parking lot of an all-night restaurant.

Sheffield was charged with assault with bodily injury, a Class-A misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $3,000 and a year in jail.

He was released on $500 bond at 4 p.m. CDT, three hours before the Padres were to play the Astros, and was not in the starting lineup. He entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter.

Sheffield refused to answer reporters’ questions at City Jail.

Rick Hartley, Houston police spokesman, said officer Michael Shiver, 34, was treated and released from a hospital after a 3 a.m. scuffle with Sheffield outside an International House of Pancakes restaurant near the Astrodome.

Shiver strained his left shoulder, back and wrist and had a puncture wound in his finger, Hartley said.

Several witnesses said the altercation started inside the restaurant, where Sheffield was sitting with teammates Fred McGriff and Derek Bell and three women.

Dimetria Arceneaux, in Sheffield’s party, said Sheffield had shoved his restaurant seat back because it was sliding forward. She said the officer pushed the seat back and when Sheffield moved it again, the officer said: “You do it again, you’re going down.”

Waitress Nancy Magluilo confirmed Arceneaux’s version of the events.