Andrew Quarless, Packers Tight End, Arrested in South Beach for Firing Gun

Update: According to a police report, Andrew Quarless fired two rounds after getting into an argument with a group of women near a parking garage. When police chased the black Porsche he was seen riding in, he allegedly tried to hide outside a restaurant and tried to stash his weapon in a potted plant.

It's not really a holiday weekend in Miami until a professional athlete gets arrested in South Beach. So take out those Fourth of July firecrackers, because early this morning, Green Bay Packers tight end Andrew Quarless got the weekend started. 

Quarless ended up in police custody after firing a gun twice into the ground, according to Miami Beach Police. 

Police say the pro footballer got into a fight near Fourth Street and Washington Avenue that led to him firing his gun around 5:30 a.m. Quarless allegedly tried to flee the scene but was apprehended by a pair of officers. He was charged with discharging a firearm in public.

Ernesto Rodriguez, a Miami Beach PD spokesman, confirmed the details of the arrest to New Times. More information should be available, he says, when he is cleared to release an incident report later today.

Quarless, a New York native, starred at Penn State under Joe Paterno before the Packers drafted him in 2010. Last year, he played 16 games, catching 29 passes for three touchdowns. 

Update 12:00 p.m.: According to a police report released to New Times, MBPD was called by a parking attendant near Lenox Avenue and Fifth Street who witnessed Quarless' dispute and the gunshots.

According to the parking attendant, Quarless and another man — identified as Michael Ritchie, a 31-year-old from New York — were leaving the garage in a black Porsche Panamera when they approached a white car filled with several women. An argument ensued, with the attendant hearing the women yell, "No! Get away! Leave me alone!"

That's when Quarless took out a semiautomatic handgun — ID'ed by police as a .45-caliber weapon — and fired two shots, one straight up into the sky. Why? When police later interviewed a woman in Quarless' car, she said he'd fired "in an attempt to emphasize his dominance and manhood."

After the parking attendant called 911, police quickly responded and found the black Porsche a few blocks away. Quarless was soon found in front of Siena Tavern, police say, "attempting to conceal himself and a black firearm in a nearby plant."

Police dug the gun out of the plant and later matched rounds found on the ground near the garage with the gun. Quarless was arrested on a misdemeanor count of firing a firearm in public and taken to Turner Knight Guilford Correctional Center for processing.