Defender Miguel Aceval, midfielder Luis Silva and forward Nick Soolsma face Class C misdemeanor charges for public intoxication after the incident outside Club Escobar at 2:45 a.m., said Victor Senties of the Houston police.
Silva took off after confronting police but was chased down and arrested, Senties said.
“They were pretty intoxicated and belligerent,” Senties said in an interview.
Police responded to a disturbance in the parking lot. The crowd was dispersing when officers arrived and tried to clear the rest of them out.
Aceval, 29, from Chile and Soolsma, 24, a Dutchman, had “small abrasions on their head and face believed to be caused by a fight,” said Senties, adding that it’s not clear who they fought or what started the scrap. Aceval was the first one arrested.
“He exhibited signs of being intoxicated and pretty belligerent,” Senties said of the first-year TFC player. “He was repeatedly given verbal commands to leave the scene and he wouldn’t do it. He pretty much ignored our officers.”
After Aceval was arrested, Silva came over and got “really angry” with the officers, the spokesman said, adding the TFC rookie was “pretty belligerent himself.” After cursing the officer, the 23-year-old Californian “takes off running” but was caught and arrested less than a block away, Senties said.
Soon after, Soolsma was arrested “for the same reason, for being very belligerent and exhibiting signs of being highly inebriated,” Senties said, adding the players were the only people arrested. All three have been released from jail.
Toronto FC, in Houston for a game Wednesday night, said in a statement the club is aware of the charges and that all three players remain with team as “we continue to investigate this matter. As such, the team will not provide any further comment at this time.”
An employee of Club Escobar said the incident occurred in the parking lot of his place but the three had been at 5th Amendment across the street in the city’s Midtown district, home to popular bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
Sean Tombros, a manager at 5th Amendment, said he knew some TFC players were expected to be coming in for the popular “Sinday Nights” event because one of the bar’s promoters had told management to expect them.
But Tombros said he didn’t meet the players or even see them at the club, which bills itself as a hotspot “for Houston’s elite crowd” complete with chandeliers, multiple dance floors and go-go dancers on an overhead catwalk. He said there were no reports of problems with them inside.
“As far as what happened across the street, stuff like that happens all the time,” Tombros said of fights after numerous clubs in the area wrap up business for the night. “But I have no idea what happened over there.”
This embarrassment is just the latest incident in a disastrous 2012 for TFC.
The club arrived in Houston earlier Sunday after losing 2-0 at Sporting Kansas City Saturday, their 10th loss in 11 Major League Soccer games. It was the debut of Paul Mariner, the Reds’ seventh head coach in six seasons, who replaced Aron Winter at the helm of the beleagured side on June 7.
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