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Antonio Morrison's charges for barking at a police dog dropped

The charges in Antonio Morrison's Sunday arrest have been dropped.

By Andy Hutchins
Al Messerschmidt

After 48 hours of hand-wringing about Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison's Sunday arrest, those charges will be dropped today, reports USA TODAY Sports' Dan Wolken.

Update (4:18 p.m.): The Orlando Sentinel confirms with the State Attorney's Office that the charges against Morrison have been dropped.

Update (4:32 p.m.): The State Attorney's Office has issued a statement on the decision to drop charges, and confirmed that the deferred prosecution agreement reached in Morrison's June arrest on a battery charge will remain intact:

Morrison was arrested early Sunday morning, for the second time in just over a month, for resisting arrest without violence and harassing a police animal after an incident in which he barked at an Alachua County Sheriff's Deputy's K-9 partner. Dashboard cam video of the arrest was released on Monday, showing Morrison being generally compliant with Deputy Bill Arnold, and Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell told The Gainesville Sun that a warning would likely have been more appropriate in the situation.

Florida coach Will Muschamp suspended Morrison for at least the first two games of the 2013 season on Sunday, meaning that Morrison would miss Florida's season opener against Toledo and its first road game at Miami. Muschamp backed up his decision to suspend Morrison — a decision I wrote in support of this morning — during his tour of ESPN's "car wash" on Tuesday, saying that Morrison "just had some poor judgment" and "made a poor decision to be out at 3 a.m.".

Muschamp may yet re-examine Morrison's status in light of the charges being dropped, but I'd imagine he will be suspended for at least Florida's season opener.

Update (6:30 p.m.): Florida has released a statement from Muschamp affirming no changes in Morrison's status.

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Andy Hutchins writes for Deadspin and is Alligator Army's managing editor. Follow Alligator Army on Twitter and Facebook.