Arrest warrant issued for Odell Beckham Jr. after post-championship video surfaces

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Police Department has issued a warrant for the arrest of former LSU football star Odell Beckham Jr.

A statement from the NOPD says the current Cleveland Browns wide receiver is facing a simple battery charge for slapping the rear of a security guard who was allegedly chastising LSU players for smoking cigars in the Superdome locker room after their National Championship win.

The Browns released a statement saying that the organization was looking into the incident shortly after the news broke.

Statement regarding Odell Beckham Jr. incident: pic.twitter.com/7cN3jOLCj6 — Cleveland Browns (@Browns) January 16, 2020

A video posted to social media showed players and a security guard interacting with other players smoking in the locker room after the championship victory. It was during the encounter that the guard was slapped. Video posted to social media appears to show Beckham slapping the guard.

In court documents related to the warrant, the officer said he quickly thought about "punching [Beckham]" but decided not to. The guard also thought about arresting Beckham but decided against it “due to the jovial atmosphere of the locker room.”

The slap came after the guard noticed what he thought to be damage to the locker room floor from the cigars: “They’ve got a burn mark there,” the guard exclaims.

“Uh oh” bystanders jest after Beckham appears to slap the officer, who turns around but does not engage.

OBJ wasn’t gonna let that officer spoil the fun.. told him to get the gat. ?? pic.twitter.com/sWoWj53r42 — ?? (@wannabjoyful) January 14, 2020

Beckham is also tied to another controversy that happened on the field before that alleged confrontation.

LSU is looking into a celebratory “rain” of bills from Beckham, and whether he passed out real US currency to players after the game. As video circulated of the cash extravaganza, LSU said it was novelty bills, though, took a firmer stance in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

NEW LSU STATEMENT

“We are aware of the situation regarding Odell Beckham Jr. interacting with LSU student-athletes and others unaffiliated with the team following the championship game Monday night," the team said in a prepared statement.

"Initial information suggested bills that were exchanged were novelty bills. Information and footage reviewed since shows apparent cash may have also been given to LSU student-athletes. We were in contact with the NCAA and the SEC immediately upon learning of this situation in which some of our student-athletes may have been placed in a compromising position. We are working with our student-athletes, the NCAA and the SEC in order to rectify the situation.”

A newly-released podcast from Barstool Sports discussed the situation with Joe Burrow in the hours after the game.

A host of the “Pardon My Take” podcast asked Joe Burrow Tuesday if the money was legit: “Yeah. I’m not a student-athlete anymore, so I can say yeah,” he said in response to a question asking if Beckham passed out money to players.

NCAA rules prohibit players from receiving monetary gifts.

Video on social media showed other players handling the money. The original video was removed and its publisher locked their account by Wednesday afternoon.