MSU's Kings' charge reduced to civil infraction

EAST LANSING – Michigan State receiver Macgarrett Kings Jr. has had two misdemeanor charges against him dismissed and has pleaded guilty to littering in public, a civil infraction.

Kings, 21, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was arrested Feb. 28 in East Lansing for allegedly kicking a parking vehicle and resisting arrest. He was charged with drunken and disorderly conduct and obstructing, resisting, hindering or assaulting a police officer, both misdemeanors.

Kings initially had a pretrial hearing set for Thursday, but on March 26 he accepted a plea deal. Under the terms of the civil infraction, Kings was ordered to pay $360 in fines and costs and must attend 20 alcohol counseling sessions. The case is under advisement until Sept. 21, according to East Lansing 54-B District Court documents.

Kings, who will be a senior next season, was "in limbo" at the start of spring practices according to coach Mark Dantonio, but he returned to the practice field on March 28. Spring ball culminates with the spring game at Spartan Stadium on April 25 (2 p.m., Big Ten Network, WJR).

According to the police report, obtained via the state's open records laws, Kings had a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 after his arrest. Arresting officer Travis Bove wrote that a group of males stopped for a parking enforcement truck as it was trying to turn down an alley in downtown East Lansing.

Kings then "ran after the truck," Bove wrote, "(and) when he caught up to it, I watched him jump into the air and kick the back of the truck."

Bove wrote that he approached Kings, identified himself as "police" and tried to arrest him while telling the unidentified males with Kings to back away.

"I repeated to Kings between 10-15 times to get against the patrol car and place his hands behind his back," Bove wrote, "however he did not, he kept tensing up, attempting to spin towards me and failed to comply with my orders. I had a tight grip on his right arm but could not see his left hand, which was in his waistband area, and Kings would not listen to my orders to place his hand behind his back until backup arrived."

Kings was suspended for most of spring football a year ago after an April 6, 2014 arrest in Delhi Township for operating while intoxicated and driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 or above, which is subject to Michigan's "super drunk" laws. Kings' blood-alcohol content registered a 0.234 on his preliminary breath test, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.

He was sentenced to 13 months of probation on July 7 in 55th District Court in Mason after pleading guilty to the DUI charge in exchange for having the OWI charge dropped. Both are misdemeanors.

Kings' probation ended early, though, according to 55th District Court records, after a Dec. 23 motion from his attorney and a final Jan. 14 payoff of $245.

Kings has 76 catches for 942 yards in 35 career games, including four starts, and he has 40 punt returns for 328 yards. He had 43 catches as a sophomore and 29 as a junior, tied with Aaron Burbridge for No. 2 on the team last season.

Contact Joe Rexrode: jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe.