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.

A Mount Royal University student and the former captain of its hockey team has been charged in a brutal attack on an MRU professor after a break-in at her Calgary home last weekend, CBC News has learned. 

Originally from Truro, N.S., Matthew Brown, 26, is facing charges of assault with a weapon and break-and-enter after a faculty member was brutalized with a broom handle, according to sources. The business student, who used to play in the QMJHL, is currently suspended and not allowed on campus, according to the university.

The victim, who is in her mid-60s, has a broken hand, requires surgery and also suffered torn tendons and severe bruising. 

Naked man broke into home

“[She] is understandably terrified and it will take a long time for her to get over this trauma,” said a family spokesperson. “It’s affecting every aspect of her life.”

CBC News has agreed not to name the victim, who fears for her safety. 

The woman lives in the community of Springbank Hill in southwest Calgary. Her family says the suspect had been at a nearby party.

The victim woke from a deep sleep after what sounded like an explosion, which was her glass door being smashed. She got up to investigate and was immediately attacked by a naked man who hit her repeatedly with a broom handle.

“It was very violent,” said one of the woman’s family members.

She was able to lock herself in the bathroom and then fled to a neighbour’s house where they let her in and called 911.

The family has been told police believe the suspect may have been on drugs at the time of the attack.

Banned from campus

The Mount Royal connection “appears to be a coincidence” the university claimed in an email to staff, which says there is no indication the two had ever met or that the attack was targeted.

“Our first and foremost concern is for the well-being of the victim, who was injured and is now at home recuperating,” reads the email.

Brown is suspended “and will not be permitted on campus or at MRU events during the course of the suspension,” according to an email sent to all university staff.

The family points out the victim “dedicated her life to Mount Royal students.” She is off work for at least the rest of the semester while she recovers.

The family has thanked Mount Royal colleagues and faculty for the “heartwarming” outpouring of support they’ve received since the attack.

Brown captain of Mount Royal team

Brown began playing on the Mount Royal team in 2012 and was captain from 2014 until last year.

Before arriving in Calgary, Brown — who is six feet tall and weighs 200 pounds — played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), first with the Moncton Wildcats from 2008 to 2010 and then with the Quebec Remparts, where he was “brought up under the wing of legendary NHL Hall-of-Famer goalie, Patrick Roy,” according to a profile written on Brown last year in the Calgary Journal.

Brown has been released on bail.