NFL Player Moise Fokou Charged With DUI

Tennessee Titans linebacker and local sports star Moise Fokou has been arrested in Washington and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or a drug.

The allegations only concern the use of alcohol; Fokou has pleaded not guilty.

A United States Park Police officer arrested the 27-year-old Fokou around 3 AM on a Friday in January. The officer pulled Fokou over after witnessing Fokou drive his BMW at a high rate of speed and across the solid double yellow lines on 14th Street near McPherson Square, the arresting officer said in a sworn statement.

“As I was speaking with [Fokou] I detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage,” the arresting officer said in the statement. “His eyes were bloodshot and watery while his speech was slurred.”

Fokou told the officer that “he had a few drinks” at a DC nightclub, and claimed his BMW “just takes off sometimes,” said the officer.

After administering a field sobriety test on Fokou, the officer placed Fokou under arrest. Fokou was taken to a Park Police station; he declined to take a breath alcohol test.

On February 4, the DC attorney general’s office charged Fokou with driving under the influence of alcohol or a drug and operating a vehicle while impaired.

Mark Schamel, a Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice attorney who is representing Fokou, disputes the allegations. “Mr. Fokou is innocent,” Schamel says. “He did nothing wrong, and we anticipate that he will be cleared at the conclusion of this case.”

Fokou pleaded not guilty; the case is scheduled to go to trial on October 22.

A Titans spokesman did not return a call requesting comment.

Born in the African nation of Cameroon, Fokou moved to Montgomery County, Maryland, at age 5. He played high school football at Bullis School in Potomac before joining the Maryland Terrapins in 2005, where he developed into an All-ACC linebacker.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Fokou in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft. This past March, the Tennessee Titans signed him to a multi-year contract.

Luke Mullins

Senior Writer

Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.