BOSTON — A former NFL player accused of drunkenly hitting one man and urinating on another during a flight from Boston to Dublin has been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, the Massachusetts State Police said Monday.

Gosder Cherilus, a first-round pick of the Detroit Lions who also played for the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was arrested early Sunday after the Delta Air Lines flight returned to Logan International Airport.

Troopers ordered the the 40-year-old from Wakefield, near Boston, to leave the plane but he “became irate and uncooperative,” police said. He was then arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing a flight crew.

According to the police report, he appeared drunk when he boarded the plane, allegedly argued with the flight crew about his seat and an hour into the flight urinated on an elderly passenger. He then hit another passenger and took that passenger’s seat before passing out, the report says.

The Boston Globe said Cherilus was arraigned Monday in East Boston District Court.

“It’s pretty egregious what you did, as alleged,” Judge Debra A. DelVecchio told Cherilus.

A phone number could not be found for Cherilus. The Globe reports that he and his attorney, Brian Sullivan, did not speak to reporters as they left the court.

In a statement Monday, Delta confirmed there had been an “unruly customer” on the flight and that the other passengers were later flown to Dublin. The airline did not say how long the flight was delayed.

“Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful behavior and will cooperate with law enforcement to that end,” the company said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A petition for a ballot referendum that Jewish organizations call antisemitic was dropped shortly before a judge was expected to hear objections to the case.

It would have prohibited Pittsburgh from doing business with anyone engaged in working with Israel. A judge said this withdrawal came down to the fact that the petitioners did not have the proper amount of valid signatures to put the referendum on the ballot.

“This is about something that was illegal and not appropriate to be on the ballot,” said Jeff Finkelstein, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

He referred to a petition for a referendum that sought to prevent the city from funding or engaging with any entity doing business with Israel, until “Israel ends its military action in Gaza.”

It came from a group called ‘No War Crimes On Our Dime,’ with the Pittsburgh Democratic Socialists of America.

Ben Case is one of the leaders.

“This grassroots coalition came together in a matter of weeks this summer on the energy of Pittsburghers who felt this was something we could do to support the people of Palestine and pressure for peace,” Case said.

The federation and other Jewish organizations, with the city controller, filed objections to the referendum, calling it antisemitic.

“If you look at the definition of antisemitism, which is called the IHRA definition, one of the things it talks about is when the State of Israel is held to a higher standard than any other country in the world,” Finkelstein said. “You don’t see any of these groups talking about any country in the world and putting any kinds of sanctions on them. It’s only the State of Israel.”

They also said it is a violation of state law.

“The state has legislation saying that you cannot boycott, divest, or have sanctions against the State of Israel,” Finkelstein said.

Those wanting the ballot question said the county elections office did an initial review of the signatures they submitted and told them the referendum could be on the ballot. Technically, it didn’t have the required number of valid signatures from registered voters in Pittsburgh.

However, both sides say the fight is not over.

“We’ll use every avenue available to us to fight for peace, equality, and justice, from Pittsburgh to Palestine,” Case said.

“This is a community that has persevered, suffered the worst antisemitic attack in American history, and will continue to be strong going forward,” Finkelstein said.

Last week, Mayor Ed Gainey’s office told KDKA-TV that the mayor had serious concerns regarding the implications of the proposed referendum if it were to pass, and wanted to prevent it from becoming part of the home rule charter.

The technical definition for a 1,000-year rain event is one that has 0.1% probability of occurring in a given year, explains the Washington Post. On Sunday, multiple places in Connecticut experienced the not-so-technical reality of that. A swath of western Connecticut qualified with 3.5 inches in a single hour, tweeted one meteorologist. Another tweeted the threshold was broached in Shelton. The towns of Oxford and Southbury, meanwhile, received more than 10 inches of rain, making it “close” to the mark, per NBC Connecticut.

Flash flood warnings were in effect from the National Weather Service in several areas, including Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield, and Hartford counties. Water rescue operations also were taking place, and CT Insider reports that two people remain missing after being swept into the Little River in the town of Oxford. Sunday’s heavy rains are unrelated to the effects of Hurricane Ernesto, reports the AP. The flood warnings also were posted for southeastern New York and for areas in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. (More Connecticut stories.)