Backup rover Michael Hinton was arrested early Monday and charged with felony malicious wounding and misdemeanor destruction of property. The charges relate to an incident at a Blacksburg McDonald's late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.

The news was broken by the Collegiate Times, Tech's student newspaper. The paper gave no further information about the incident that led to the arrest. Hinton was taken into custody at 2 a.m. Monday.

Hinton, a four-star recruit from Hargrave Military Academy in 2003, redshirted last fall. He was suspended from the team prior to the Insight Bowl against California for an unspecified violation of team rules, which sources indicate stemmed from fights with his Virginia Tech teammates.

Hinton was later reinstated to the team in February. In an interview that ran on BeamerBall.com on February 18th, he talked about a childhood in which he was raised by his aunt, with no male role model, and that he learned to be tough at an early age and to settle things with his fists. Hinton spoke of undergoing anger management counseling and learning to deal with his aggressiveness as part of his reinstatement to the team, and he talked about wanting to start over and have everyone to be proud of him.

Under the provisions of Virginia Tech's Comprehensive Action Plan, Hinton is suspended from the team immediately, because he has been charged with a felony. If convicted of the felony charge, or if he pleads guilty or no contest to it, then he will be permanently suspended from the team.

If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, but not a felony charge, then his fate will be determined by Athletic Director Jim Weaver, and could include from a warning to dismissal from the team.

Follow-up, 4/13/04: Hinton was dismissed from the team the next day.

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