Former NFL player Gosder Cherilus arrested after allegedly urinating on a person during a Delta flight

A former NFL lineman was arrested after allegedly urinating on another passenger during a flight from Boston to Dublin, forcing the plane to return to Logan International Airport, officials said Monday.

Former Detroit Lions offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus, a 40-year-old resident of Wakefield, Massachusetts, appeared in East Boston District Court on Monday where he pleaded not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct, interfering with flight crew and resisting arrest.

Delta Flight 154 left Logan at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Sunday, more than 3.5 hours late, before turning around and landing back in Boston at 2:33 a.m., according to airline data posted on FlightAware.

Delta called for help because of “an unruly passenger who urinated on another passenger on board,” Massachusetts State Police told NBC News on Monday.

When Flight 154 arrived at Terminal E, state police and Customs and Border Protection agents boarded and confronted Cherilus, the MSP said.

“Officers verbally ordered Cherilus to exit the aircraft, but he became angrier and refused to cooperate,” MSP said. “Officers eventually escorted Cherilus to the jetway and arrested him for disturbing the peace and disturbing the flight crew.”

He did not answer reporters' questions in court on Monday, but in a social media post, Cherilus seemed to attribute his erratic behavior to a bad reaction to sleeping pills.

“The flight was unexpectedly delayed by approximately four hours,” he wrote. “In preparation for the expected night flight, I took a sleeping pill that I do not normally take, which resulted in behavior that is not in keeping with my character, and I would like to apologize to the passengers and flight crew.”

Cherilus played nine NFL seasons, five with the Detroit Lions, two years with the Indianapolis Colts and two more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played in 132 games, 116 of which were starts.

At Boston College, Cherilus was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference second team in 2007 as the blind side protector for quarterback and conference player Matt Ryan, who went on to have a 15-season NFL career.

Ryan was selected number 3 in the 2008 draft, his college teammate Cherilus was selected number 17.