NEED TO KNOW
- Darius McCrary was released from jail in San Diego on Wednesday, Oct. 29 and is being extradited to Michigan, PEOPLE can exclusively confirm
- He was arrested on Oct. 5 while crossing the border from Mexico into the United States due to an out-of-state felony warrant that stemmed from a missed court appearance
- McCrary was previously denied bail while awaiting his extradition
Darius McCrary has been released from a San Diego jail for extradition.
PEOPLE can exclusively confirm that the Family Matters alum, 49, was extradited from California back to Michigan on Wednesday, Oct. 29, following his Oct. 5 “fugitive arrest” at the U.S.-Mexico border on an out-of-state felony warrant.
McCrary was being held in a San Diego jail for several weeks after a judge denied him bail while he waited for Michigan authorities to take him into custody.
Darius McCrary.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
At the time, the local ABC10 News reported that prosecutors stated inside the courtroom that McCrary’s agent allegedly said he was in Tijuana looking at real estate when he was detained trying to cross back into the U.S. by Border Patrol. However, McCrary’s public defender, who was appointed after the actor initially requested to represent himself, claimed he was there to work with a charity building houses.
Prosecutors further argued that McCrary — whose warrant was issued after he missed a court appearance for alleged unpaid child support — was a flight risk, and the judge agreed.
After his court appearance on Oct. 15, McCrary’s rep, Ann Barlow, told PEOPLE that McCrary was not a flight risk and had no ties to Tijuana. She claimed McCrary accidentally crossed into Mexico due to “a mix-up [about] where to meet his partner for the Esperanza program,” where he volunteered to build homes for unhoused individuals.
Barlow also stated that McCrary plans to continue to fight his case in Michigan.
In the past, McCrary has been involved in other legal troubles, including his messy divorce battle with ex-wife Tammy Brawner regarding their 2017 filing.
The divorce was finalized in February 2019, and ordered McCrary to pay $1,366 per month in child support ($916 as a base amount, plus $415 in child-care costs), according to documents obtained by PEOPLE at the time.
Per that agreement, Brawner, a former Harlem Globetrotter, was granted full legal and physical custody of the former couple’s then-3-year-old daughter Zoey.
McCrary was also ordered to attend alcohol/drug abuse and batterers’ intervention classes within 12 months and was granted professionally-monitored visitation with Zoey every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. until he completed 10 visits. Restrictions would continue to lessen thereafter.
Darius McCrary.
Emma McIntyre/Getty
PEOPLE later reported in 2018 that Brawner alleged that McCrary “partially dislocated” Zoey’s arm, per court documents obtained by The Blast at the time.
Brawner reportedly told doctors that the incident occurred when McCrary was taking his daughter to the bathroom and “grabbed her arm.” McCrary reportedly denied that account, claiming he “grabbed one hand to lift her up and immediately grabbed the other.”
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Zoey was allegedly diagnosed with Nursemaid’s elbow, a common elbow injury among young children and toddlers that occurs when a child’s elbow is pulled and one of the bones partially dislocates.
McCrary is best known for his role as Eddie Winslow on the hit ’90s sitcom Family Matters, which he starred in from 1989-1998 alongside on-screen parents Reginald VelJohnson and Jo Marie Payton.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
