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Former NFL player Gosder Cherilus arrested for allegedly urinating during a flight

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A former NFL player was arrested on a Delta Air Lines flight from Boston to Dublin, Ireland, after being accused of urinating on another passenger.

Delta Air Lines Flight 154 was en route from Boston to Dublin early Sunday when it was diverted and had to return to Logan International Airport “due to an unruly passenger urinating on another passenger on board,” Massachusetts State Police said in a statement.

According to police, officers boarded the plane around 2 a.m. Sunday and ordered the player to exit the plane, but “he became irate and did not cooperate.” They eventually escorted him to the jetway and arrested him.

The passenger was identified by police as Gosder Cherilus, 40, of Wakefield, Massachusetts. Cherilus appeared in court Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of disturbing the peace, interfering with flight crew and resisting arrest.

Former NFL player apologizes

Cherilus addressed the matter on social media, apologizing and attributing his behavior to a “sleeping pill” that he does not normally take.

“The flight was unexpectedly delayed by approximately four hours,” Cherilus wrote in a post on Instagram. “In preparation for the expected overnight flight, I took a sleeping medication that I do not normally take, which resulted in behavior that is out of character and I would like to apologize to the passengers and flight crew.”

According to data posted on FlightAware, Delta Flight 154 left Logan at 12:12 a.m. ET on Sunday, more than three and a half hours after its scheduled departure, before making a U-turn and landing in Boston at 2:33 a.m.

Other passengers, meanwhile, were rebooked on another flight to Dublin on Sunday, a Delta spokesman told USA TODAY on Monday.

“Delta does not tolerate any illegal behavior and will cooperate with law enforcement to that end,” the spokesman said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the delay to their travel.”

Who is Gosder Cherilus?

Cherilus was an offensive tackle at Boston College from 2005 to 2007. He was drafted into the NFL by the Detroit Lions in 2008. He played five seasons in Detroit, two with the Indianapolis Colts and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 2016.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.

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