TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A player from last year’s Detroit Lions is facing animal cruelty charges, but he claims the city is just trying to shut down his business.
Isaiah Buggs, 27, spent the past two seasons with the Lions before he was waived on Jan. 2, 2024. He ultimately signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.
ESPN reports the Tuscaloosa Police Department has filed two misdemeanor warrants against Buggs for second-degree animal cruelty.
Officials said two dogs were left on the back porch of a home Buggs was renting. Animal control officials said the pit bull and rottweiler were trapped in the screened-in area without food or water.
ESPN says the dogs were reportedly malnourished and neglected. The home appeared to be abandoned, and witnesses were cited saying Buggs had recently moved from the house.
The dogs were seized, and the pit bull was euthanized, according to the report.
Trey Robinson, Buggs’ agent, told ESPN that these charges are part of an attempt to force Buggs to close a hookah lounge he owns in Tuscaloosa.
Robinson said the dogs don’t belong to Buggs and that his client didn’t know they were at the property. He claims the city of Tuscaloosa used the possibility of charges as leverage against Buggs, offering to drop them if he gave up his business license.