Washington Wizards Gilbert Arenas one of three athletes arrested in Miami Beach

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas and forward Awvee Storey have been arrested on charges of disobeying police.

According to police reports, Storey had been blocking traffic in the middle of a busy street when an officer told him to get back to he sidewalk last night.

Storey disregarded the officer’s instructions and did not get out of the street. The officer arrested him and charged him with failure to obey a command.

While police were arresting Storey, Arenas got out of a vehicle and walked toward the arresting officers.

According to reports, an officer told Arenas to return to his vehicle, but he refused. The officer took Arenas into custody and charged him with resisting without violence.

As Arenas was being arrested, according to reports, he said, "You can't arrest me. I'm a basketball player. I play for the
Washington Wizards, and I'm not going to leave my teammate."

Both players were then taken to jail for processing.

The Wizards released a statement saying, "We are aware of the situation and, until we have more information, we will have no comment."

Former Ohio State wide receiver Santonio Holmes was arrested for disorderly conduct at a hotel in South Beach on Saturday night.

Holmes, taken by Pittsburgh with the Steelers' first-round pick, was arrested Friday night. He was released from jail after he signed a promissory note to appear in court to be arraigned, police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said.

The events leading to Holmes' arrest weren't released by police.

A total of 557 people were arrested between Thursday morning and Saturday night on Miami Beach. Most arrests were for disorderly conduct and intoxication.

In 2001, the Beach was taken by surprise when hundreds of thousands of rappers, revelers and industry professionals showed up for a weekend of parties centered on Urban Fashion Week.

Since then, more than 300,000 hip-hoppers descend upon Miami Beach every Memorial Day Weekend.  Locals are known to flee Miami Beach during this holiday weekend.

All these arrests (a number that is difficult to ascertain even in a year's time, let alone just one weekend in Miami Beach) come despite the fact that more than 600 police officers were deployed to man nearly every corner of South Beach.

An increasing number of restaurants, car services and other businesses have ceased operating during the Memorial Day Weekend.  It is not unusual to find signs on restaurant doors that read "Closed Memorial Day Weekend for Renovations". 

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Sports911.com News Wire

Originally published May 28, 2006 11:21 pm EST