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Griese arrested at sports bar

Michigan quarterback Brian Griese was arrested at about midnight Saturday for an undisclosed charge outside Scorekeepers, a local sports bar, two of its employees confirmed yesterday.

Griese, 21, who will have junior eligibility next fall, was removed from the bar, according to a Scorekeepers bouncer who asked not to be named. Griese then proceeded to shatter the bar's main window, the bouncer said.

"There was a little incident in the bar and we just kicked (Griese) out," the bouncer said. "We pushed him out the door and locked it. A couple of minutes later, the window shattered. He either hit it or threw something at it. We're not really sure."

The bouncer confirmed that Ann Arbor Police Department officers then arrested Griese in the parking structure south of the bar.

The bouncer said Griese was visibly intoxicated while inside the bar.

"He was almost to the point where he couldn't talk or stand," the bouncer said.

Griese would not confirm or deny that he was arrested, but said that he did not expect any long-term consequences to come out of Saturday's incident.

"I'm not going to comment about it," Griese said. "I don't know the situation on what is going to happen. The charges are dropped and that is the end of the situation."

AAPD officials would not comment yesterday on the arrest. The University's Department of Public Safety was not involved in the off-campus incident.

Griese was apparently accompanied by other football players inside the bar.

"I know that he was with some football players," said Andy Eisenberg, a cook at Scorekeepers. "But which ones, I don't know."

Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr said he knew nothing of the incident.

"I'll obviously have to talk to Brian (today) and find out what happened," Carr said. "Other than that, I have no comment."

Scorekeepers manager Eric Rogers said he would not comment at this time on the details of the situation.

"We want to find out what's going on and make sure everything is finished up before commenting on it," he said.

Griese is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and ABC announcer Bob Griese. He took over as the Wolverines' starting quarterback for the injured Scott Dreisbach in the season's fifth game and guided Michigan to a 5-4 finish in a 9-4 season.

Dreisbach also had a recent run-in with the law in an incident involving alcohol. He was ticketed for trying to purchase alcohol with a fraudulent ID on May 25, 1995, at an Ann Arbor party store.

The University's athletic programs have had their share of alcohol-related incidents in the past two years. Former Michigan football coach Gary Moeller was arrested for assault, battery and disorderly conduct outside a Southfield restaurant on April 28, 1995. He was drunk at the time of the arrest and resigned shortly thereafter.

In January 1994, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King -- starters on the Michigan men's basketball team -- were involved in an alcohol- related shoplifting incident at Dairy Mart on South University Avenue.

In March 1994, Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson was arrested after urinating in public. He was drunk at the time.