UFC fighter Geoff Neal is facing misdemeanour charges of driving while intoxicated and unlawful carrying of a weapon after a recent arrest in Collin County, Texas, USA.
Neal was arrested last week on November 25th, also known in the U.S. as Thanksgiving Day. News of the incident was first reported by Simon Samano of MMA Junkie.
Neal was admitted to the to the Collin County Jail on early morning in November. His bail was set at $1,000 and he has since been released.
Neal is set to compete on a pay-per-view UFC event in just a few days, being booked against Santiago Ponzinibbio for the promotion’s December 11th event.
A statement issued by the UFC to Marc Raimondi of ESPN said that the promotion is currently in contact with Neal, and that his fight is currently set to proceed later this month.
The driving while intoxicated charge claims that Neal had a blood-alcohol limit of 0.08% upon arrest. His level of charge, a class B misdemeanor, alleges that his blood-alcohol level was under 0.15%.
Brandon Barnett, the attorney for Neal, claimed that his client volunteered to take a blood-alcohol limit test on cite, and that incoming results from that test will prove his innocence.
If Neal’s driving while intoxicated charge can be dropped, his unlawful carrying of a weapon charge will also be exonerated. In the state of Texas, the weapon charge is tacked onto anyone who is committing a crime while in possession of a firearm,
“If it turns out he was not legally intoxicated — which we expect the blood test will show — there won’t be a gun charge, either,” Barnett said to ESPN.
The result from the test is expected to come back sometime within the next six weeks to six months. Neal’s attorney said a case file won’t be produced for the incident until his test is returned.
Knockdown News 