US police say a University of New Mexico gridiron player's saggy pants led to his arrest at San Francisco International Airport.

Sergeant Michael Rodriguez said 20-year-old Deshon Marman was boarding a flight on Wednesday to Albuquerque, New Mexico, when a US Airways employee noticed his pants were "below his buttocks, but above the knees, and his boxer shorts were showing".

Sergeant Rodriguez told the San Francisco Chronicle that the employee asked Marman to pull up his pants, but he refused. She then asked him to leave the plane.

The officer said that after 15 minutes, Marman got off the plane and was cited for trespassing.

Marman's mother, Donna Doyle, told the paper that her son had attended a friend's funeral and he was still in an emotionally raw state.

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US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Valerie Wunder saidthe airline's dress code forbids "indecent exposure or inappropriate" attire.

AP