One charge against Gamecocks punter dropped, another resolved

South Carolina punter Sean Kelly has had one of the charges against him dropped and resolved the other, according to his lawyer, Columbia attorney Neal Lourie.

Kelly was arrested on Aug. 12 and charged with public disorderly conduct and malicious injury to property and trespass upon real property with an injury value of $2,000 or less, according to South Carolina Judicial Department records. The charge of malicious injury to property was dropped, according to a statement released by Lourie’s office. On the disorderly conduct charge, Kelly applied for pre-trial intervention, his attorney said.

“This allows Sean to put this ordeal behind him and focus on his academics and football,” Lourie said in a statement.

Kelly also released a statement, which read: “I’m extremely sorry for my behavior. I know that I will have to work hard to regain the trust of my coaches, teammates, and Gamecock Nation. I am committed to this task.”

Head coach Will Muschamp had previously said Kelly would not miss any game time for the incident. Kelly was subject to internal team discipline, Muschamp said.

According to a police report filed at the time of Kelly’s arrest, the player was “shoved” out of Five Points Saloon on Harden Street by the bar staff after a physical altercation. The bar staff told the responding officer they wanted Kelly to leave after he was about to cause an altercation with another individual. The officer was then approached by a victim who said that Kelly damaged his iPhone.

The victim took a picture of Kelly with his phone and Kelly then grabbed the phone, threw it against the wall of 818 Harden Street beside Five Points Saloon and continued to walk away. The officer approached Kelly and attempted to speak to him.

“Kelly reported that he would not speak to the officer, that he was going to call his lawyer,” the report reads. “Officer detained the subject, then began speaking with the victim again. Kelly stated, ‘Plead the 5th’ after victim reported to officer again that the subject had taken his phone and threw it on the wall.”

Kelly was placed under arrest when he became “loud and boisterous” and the officer smelled alcohol on his breath.

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 3:16 PM with the headline "One charge against Gamecocks punter dropped, another resolved."