Former Rock Hill High and Gamecocks star Ko Simpson arrested

Buffalo Bills safety charged with hindering police outside bar on New Year's Day

By Charles D. Perry - cperry@heraldonline.com

Buffalo Bills safety and former Rock Hill High standout Ko Simpson was arrested outside a Rock Hill bar early New Year's Day after police say he interfered while they were trying to arrest Simpson's friends.

But the 25-year-old NFL player contends he was simply checking on his friends when he was handcuffed and taken to jail.

"It's not what happened," Simpson said of the account presented in a police report. "Basically man, this is a bunch of bull."

Simpson was charged with hindering police. He was released on a $470 bond about two hours after he was arrested.

Officers went to Celebrations bar on Cherry Road just after 2 a.m. to help security with a crowd leaving the bar and because of a possible assault in the parking lot, according to a Rock Hill police report.

While police were there, security officers at the bar stopped 28-year-old Frederick Hart for speeding through the parking lot, the report stated. Hart became angry and argued with officers, refusing to leave.

Rock Hill police warned him that he could be arrested if he didn't calm down and leave, the report stated. Hart then began yelling, "(Forget) it, take me to jail," according to the report, and he was charged with disorderly conduct.

While police were dealing with Hart, Dyann Linen, a passenger in his vehicle, grew angry with the officers and, while "highly intoxicated," began cursing at them, the report stated.

Several times, police told her to stay in the vehicle and relax, according to the report.

When Linen dropped her cell phone on the ground, an officer reached to pick it up and Linen hit him in the back of the head, the report said.

She was then charged with disorderly conduct. The officer was not injured.

Simpson was in the vehicle and "was being verbally abusive" to police, the report stated.

He was asked to leave several times, but replied, "I'm Ko Simpson with the Buffalo Bills. I am worth millions!"

Simpson finally began to leave the parking lot. But as police were struggling with those under arrest -- including Linen, who was trying to kick the window out of a patrol car -- Simpson returned and walked up yelling, trying to get to Hart, according to the report.

"This created more of a officer safety issue, and Simpson was then arrested," the report stated.

Simpson, however, disputes the police report's details.

After a New Year's party, Simpson said, he was leaving the bar with his girlfriend. She was driving and he was riding in the front seat when he noticed his friend, Hart, and Hart's girlfriend, Linen, having problems with the police.

The couple stopped because Simpson wanted to see what was going on, he said. Officers told him to leave, or he would go to jail.

His girlfriend started to pull away, but Simpson saw Linen on the ground struggling with the police and got out of the car. An officer met him en route to the scene.

"I went down there to see what was going on," he said. "By the time I get down there, they put the handcuffs on me."

Simpson denies yelling about his status while in the parking lot, though he acknowledged relaying that information as he was being taken to jail.

"I let them know how I felt once he got me in that car," he said, adding he was asking why he was being arrested.

Simpson said he paid his fine that night and won't have to go to court. But when asked if he would go to court to challenge the charge, he said, "I don't know. I'm going to let my people handle that."

Simpson also said the incident is being exaggerated by the media.

"Y'all making it bigger than what it really is," he said.

As a high school senior, Simpson helped lead Rock Hill to the 2002 Class AAAA Division I state championship.

He played two seasons at the University of South Carolina before Buffalo made him the 105th overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft.

That year, Simpson signed a four-year, $2.13 million deal with the Bills. He made $445,000 this year, and is due $530,000 next year.

Scott Berchtold, the Bills vice president of communications, issued this statement Friday about Simpson's arrest: "We are aware of the report and are currently in the process of gathering the facts."