Police: Ex-NFL player Michael Thomas arrested for beating, choking girlfriend in Sandy Springs

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - Sandy Springs police say a former NFL player was arrested early Sunday moing for beating and choking his girlfriend.

Michael Thomas, 29, a former wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, is facing aggravated assault, child abuse, battery, using a firearm during the commission of a felony and obstruction of law enforcement charges.

According to a police report, Thomas was in a domestic dispute with a woman while a child's birthday party was happening in the same home. When officers arrived at the home, they could hear yelling and screaming coming from inside the house. The victim met officers outside and told them that Thomas hit her with open and closed fists, punched her in the face and choked her as she struggled to breathe.

When police went inside the house, Thomas started approaching them "with his fist clenched and an aggressive body language," the report detailed.

Thomas continued to approach the officers, so one officer pointed a Taser at him, ordering him to get on the ground, and he "slowly dropped to his knees and then the ground," the report said.

Thomas told police that he went to a strip club earlier in the day, then a club. The woman told police that Thomas "came home extremely intoxicated and was upset with her for an unknown reason all day."

The report said six children were at the home for the victim's daughter's birthday party during the assault

Thomas is being held at the Fulton County jail without bond.

He played for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2009 to 2012. He attended the University of Arizona from 2005 to 2008 and graduated from DeSoto High School, just south of Dallas.