Disturbance ends in arrest of GSU football players

Four people, including three members of the 2023 Grambling State University football team, face charges today after a Friday night disturbance at the USA Travel Plaza on West Alabama Avenue.

Officers from four local law enforcement agencies responded to the incident that began around 8 p.m. At one point, the officers were surrounded by members of the GSU football team who refused to leave the parking lot, according to the arrest affidavit for one of the suspects.

Team members Ken Hardy Pierre-Charles, 21; Jaydon Brunson, 23; and David Dwyane Jones, 18; were arrested, along with a 21-yearold female Aniya Green.

Police reports say Jones, along with his teammates, surrounded officers from Ruston city police, Grambling city police, GSU police, and Lincoln Parish sheriff’s deputies while they were attempting to disperse the crowd.

Jones supposedly became combative, threatened the officers, and walked toward them with his fist clenched.

He was charged with five counts of threatening an officer, five counts of resisting an officer with force or violence, interfering with a law enforcement investigation, and remaining after being forbidden.

Jones later told Grambling police he was only trying to help his teammates.

Brunson reportedly ignored several verbal commands from Ruston city police to leave and was overheard threatening one of the officers. Brunson was tased three times for resisting arrest.

He’s charged with three counts of resisting arrest and intimidation of an officer.

Pierre-Charles also reportedly refused to the leave and repeatedly turned up his car audio exceeding city noise ordinance levels. Pierre-Charles was apparently going to be cited for excessive noise when police discovered he had an active Ruston city court warrant against him for probation violation on a theft charge.

Pierre-Charles was arrested on the warrant for theft less than $1,000.

Green is charged with interfering with a law enforcement investigation and disturbing the peace after she allegedly continued to get in the way of RPD officers who were trying to put one of the male suspects in the back of a patrol car.

Last season’s GSU football roster on the university’s website lists Jones as a freshman defensive back from Baton Rouge, Pierre-Charles as a red shirt sophomore defensive back from Middle Village, New York, and Brunson as a senior defensive back from Blythevwood, South Carolina.