Mario Pender Dismissed from FSU Following Arrest: Latest Details and Comments | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Police arrested Florida State Seminoles running back Mario Pender on charges of domestic violence by strangulation and resisting an officer without violence Saturday, per Leon County, Florida, public records.

Following his arrest, Florida State dismissed Pender from the team, per Safid Deen of the Tallahassee Democrat.

"[Pender] has been permanently dismissed from the football team following his arrest earlier in the day," the school said in a statement. "The athletics department will have no further comment at this time."

According to police, via Sean Rossman of the Tallahassee Democrat on Sunday, Pender is accused of dragging a woman "by the hair about 50 feet" to the house after an argument in the front yard. When police arrived on the scene, the officer "heard a woman screaming inside the one-story home and a man yelling at her. The officer pushed the front door open and found Pender straddling the woman with his hands around her neck."

According to 247Sports' composite rankings, Pender was the fourth-best running back in the 2012 recruiting class. Since arriving in Tallahassee, though, the fifth-year senior has failed to meet expectations on the field.

Florida State redshirted Pender in 2012, and he missed the entire 2013 season after being ruled academically ineligible. Injuries then limited Pender in 2014 and 2015, and he played 15 combined games during the two years. Complications from a collapsed lung wiped out most of his junior season.

Pender's absence coincided with Dalvin Cook's emergence, a point noted by ESPN.com's Joe Schad:

Joe Schad @schadjoe

Last year Jimbo told me Pender “extremely talented…might never have heard of Cook if Pender hadn’t gotten hurt.”

Cook rushed for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman in 2014 and was even better last year (1,691 yards, 19 TDs), finishing seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Head coach Jimbo Fisher suspended Cook indefinitely last year after he was arrested in the summer. Fisher only reinstated the star running back after a jury found him not guilty of misdemeanor battery in August.

Following Cook's arrest and now-former quarterback De'Andre Johnson's surrender to authorities on a charge of misdemeanor battery, Fisher pledged to be more proactive when it came to player infractions.

"Florida State is a great university," he said in July, per the Palm Beach Post's Tom D'Angelo. "Our fans and supporters deserve better than to hear of actions that are not consistent with the school’s proud history and national stature. We will do better. I will not tolerate anything less."