Yahoo Sports 
Notre Dame CB Devin Butler pleads not guilty to felony charges
Suspended Notre Dame cornerback Devin Butler has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of resisting arrest and battery of a police officer after his weekend arrest.
Butler was arrested outside of a South Bend, Indiana, bar on Friday evening. He allegedly pushed a woman involved in a fight outside the bar. He then allegedly became unruly when approached by police and pushed a police officer before allegedly striking the officer again after he was tackled.
The officer used a taser on Butler after he claimed Butler ripped his belt off of him. Per the South Bend Tribune, Aaron Knepper, the officer involved in the incident with Butler has been involved in three prior allegations of misconduct.
In March 2014, Knepper arrested 55-year-old Tom Stevens of South Bend and Stevens’ 76-year-old mother on suspicion of resisting arrest and battery to a police officer after initially stopping Stevens for a traffic violation near his Sunnymede home. Stevens was hospitalized for three days, and he and his mother claimed they did not strike Knepper, but that he was unnecessarily rough with them. Stevens later pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and had his other charges dropped.
Knepper was suspended without pay for an August 2012 incident in which he and two other officers pressured a 7-Eleven clerk to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon and to eat 10 crackers in less than a minute. That clerk filed suit, claiming the officers humiliated him and violated his civil rights.
Knepper was also found guilty of unconstitutional behavior regarding a July 2012 incident when they mistook a 17-year-old for his older brother and falsely arrested the teenager.
Butler was suspended shortly after his arrest, which came on a weekend when five other Notre Dame players were arrested. While Butler was suspended, safety Max Redfield was kicked off the team. Redfield was arrested with four teammates after a traffic stop Friday night.
Butler had surgery on his left foot in June and was wearing a walking boot in his Wednesday court appearance for his preliminary hearing. He has started three games in three seasons at Notre Dame and his next hearing is scheduled for next week.
[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for entertaining things you won’t see on the blog]
[Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers]
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
