A former French star footballer who now directs FC Miami City’s soccer club was arrested Wednesday for smashing open a condominium apartment door, stealing a knife and spraying the apartment and a tenant with foam from a fire extinguisher.
Gregory ReneRobert Dutil, 37, was taken into custody while holding a cup of red wine and wearing only his boxer briefs and socks, Miami police said. He was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and charged with armed burglary, burglary with assault or battery, two counts of criminal mischief, possession of coke and improperly using a fire extinguisher.
Police said just before handcuffing Dutil they noticed a bulge in the left side of his white briefs.
“The defendant then reached for the bulge at which point Officer Russell observed it to be a silver kitchen knife,” the arresting officer wrote in Dutil’s arrest form. “Officer Russell immediately confiscated the knife.”
Dutil, who now directs soccer in Miami began his professional career in the 1990s in France and played in that nation’s First and Second divisions before playing in Spain., according to his profile on the website for Miami FC, which is a semi-professional club in a developmental league. Dutil played on the French team Nimes Olympique during the 2011-2012 season, when it won its first French national title in over a decade.
Police said they were called to the Charter Club condominium at 600 NE 36th St. at about 9 a.m. Wednesday about vandalism and possible battery. When they arrived, Dutil’s arrest report says, the soccer player was sitting on a couch in the hallway wearing only his boxer briefs, socks and holding a cup of red wine.
After confiscating the knife, police said, they made contact with a woman in the apartment that Dutil is accused of breaking into. It was not clear from the arrest report if they knew each other. She told officers that he busted the door open, sprayed her in the face with foam from a fire extinguisher and went on to spray down much of the apartment.
The report says she ran to the balcony and screamed. When a security guard at the condo showed up, he told police that Dutil was still in the apartment. He said he managed to control Dutil and sit him down until police arrived. Police said the female tenant said that Dutil gotten the knife from her kitchen.
Police said the apartment floor was covered in red wine and once they searched Dutil they found suspected cocaine in his socks.
Dutil remained in jail Thursday afternoon. No bond had been set for the armed burglary and burglary with assault or battery charges. He could not be reached for comment and it was not immediately clear if he had retained an attorney.