By 1news.co.nz and is republished with permission
England rugby international Billy Vunipola was arrested and fined after an incident at a nightclub in the Spanish island of Mallorca in which police officers reportedly used a Taser to subdue him.
English club Saracens released a statement on behalf of the 31-year-old Vunipola on X, formerly Twitter, in which he said he got involved in an āunfortunate misunderstandingā that āgot out of handā as he left a night spot in Palma in the early hours of Sunday local time.
Vunipola said he was charged with āresisting the lawā and paid a fine of 240 euros ($NZ430) following what he described as an āexpress trial.ā
āThe Spanish police investigation is now closed,ā Vunipola said, āand I am flying back to the UK today.ā
Saracens, where Vunipola has played his club rugby since 2013, said in a statement it was aware of an incident involving Vunipola and would deal with it āinternally.ā
āI will obviously cooperate with the Saracens internal process,ā Vunipola said, āand unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience to all involved.ā
A video on the website of Spanish newspaper Ultima Hora showed Vunipola being led out of a police van and into a courtroom. The newspaper said that happened on Sunday, after Vunipola had recovered in a medical centre.
In his statement, Vunipola denied being involved in any violence and said he ādid not threaten anybody at any stage, with bottles or chairs or anything else.ā
He didn’t comment on the reports that police used a Taser on him.
Vunipola, who plays at No. 8, has represented England since 2013 and played at the Rugby World Cup in 2015, ā19 and ā23. He was not part of the team’s squads for the Six Nations tournament across February and March.
He was a second-half substitute for Saracens in their 15-12 victory against Bath in the English league at the weekend. Saracens are not scheduled to play again until May 11.