A Dane County judge sentenced University of Wisconsin football player Brett Bell Wednesday to probation for two fights he participated in last year.
He will serve two consecutive terms of 23 months each for the incidents.
Bell, a defensive back on the Badger football team and slotted to be a probable starter in the fall, must avoid State Street Brats, the site of one of the fights.
Bell’s first offense occurred in April of 2002, when Bell and teammate Jeff Lang’s brother started fighting and a bouncer stepped in to break up the fight. Bell ripped Lang’s shirt and Lang broke a beer bottle over Bell’s head, cutting the bouncer’s face with the bottle.
Bell and Lang split the bouncer’s $1,100 medical bill for the nine stitches in his face and Bell joined a First Offenders program.
In the second altercation last December, Bell spit on a fellow cab passenger he thought was laughing at him and proceeded to punch the passenger in the face and kick him while he was on the ground. Coach Barry Alvarez suspended Bell for the incident.
In addition to the probation term, Dane County Circuit Judge Angela Bartell also ordered Bell to complete 100 hours of community service and write an apology to the victim of the second incident.
Bell pleaded no contest in both incidents and will pay $150 in court costs.