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Browns’ Johnny Manziel and entourage reportedly involved in skirmish

Johnny Manziel warms up before Cleveland's game against Houston on Nov. 16, 2015.
(Tony Dejak / Associated Press)
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Johnny Manziel has largely stayed out of the news during the past couple of months as the Cleveland Browns have cruised to a surprisingly competitive 7-4 start. But the rookie quarterback got into some trouble over the weekend that has the Browns’ brass concerned.

Manziel and his entourage were involved in an altercation in Cleveland in the early morning hours of Saturday, according to a police report obtained Monday by CleveScene.com.

Police were called to the lobby of “The 9,” an upscale apartment building, at 2:36 a.m. because of a “riot” involving 20 men and two security guards, according to the website.

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According to the police report, Chris Gonos, 33, said he and his girlfriend spotted Manziel while waiting for an elevator.

Gonos reportedly approached Manziel, possibly to hug him, and was punched in the face by someone in the group of people with Manziel. That allegedly triggered a skirmish.

Gonos later told CleveScene.com: “Yeah, it actually all started through me. We had a room — it was my brother’s birthday — so we were staying at the Metropolitan at the 9. We partied there, and at the end of the night I was going back up to my room, and I noticed the guy. I was like, ‘Man, that’s Johnny Manziel.’ They were trying to keep it quiet, keep it low, and I was like ‘Johnny Football!’ I was just excited. But anyways, I went to give him like a handshake, or dap or whatever you want to call it, one of his buddies like tackled me. It was going down, a whole bunch of people started fighting. It ended pretty quick.”

He told the website he sustained a bruised hip and elbow, and “somebody hit me on the back of the head, too.”

Manziel, who was with the team for Sunday’s game at Atlanta, was not available for comment about the alleged incident Monday.

Ray Farmer, general manager of the Browns, said the team is in the process of gathering more information.

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“Nonetheless,” Farmer said in a statement, “the time of the incident is concerning to us. We continually stress to all of our players the importance of sound decision making in an effort to avoid putting themselves in these types of situations. We have addressed this appropriately with the player and will have no further comment at this time.”

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