Marcell Ozuna pleads no contest to resolve reckless driving case

Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna entered a no contest plea to resolve his reckless driving case, according to records from the Norcross Municipal Court.

Ozuna will pay a $1,000 fine as part of the plea agreement.

Ozuna was arrested in Gwinnett County in August and charged with DUI less safe and failure to maintain lane when stopped by Norcross police. The DUI charge has been dropped.

According to an incident report at the time of the arrest, Ozuna told the officer who pulled him over that he drank “three or four” beers earlier in the night. Ozuna submitted to a field sobriety test, but was placed under arrest when he refused a breath test, the report said.

Ozuna posted a $1,830 bond and was released.

“Disappointed my team, disappointed my family,” Ozuna said while meeting with reporters in the Braves clubhouse hours after the arrest. “Don’t have anything more to say. It’s a legal matter.”

Ozuna was pulled over in his 2021 Mercedes-Benz SUV with Florida tags shortly after 3:30 a.m., the incident report said. A police officer on patrol was driving west on Beaver Ruin Road near Alston Trace when the Mercedes passed him heading the other direction “at a high rate of speed,” the report said. The officer wrote that he also saw the Mercedes crossing over the center line and into the eastbound lanes.

Though the speed limit on that section of road was 35 mph, the report said, the officer accelerated to nearly 90 mph to catch up with the Mercedes. Ozuna was not cited for speeding.

The incident came 15 months after Ozuna was arrested in connection with a domestic assault at his Sandy Springs home. He was accused of strangling his wife, Genesis, during an argument and throwing her against a wall before striking her with the cast covering his broken fingers. Ozuna initially was charged with felony aggravated assault, but the charges later were reduced to battery and simple assault with family-violence enhancements. As a first offender, Ozuna agreed to enter the pretrial diversion program.

Ozuna has struggled this season. Entering Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox, Ozuna was hitting .146 with 21 strikeouts. He has six home runs and nine RBIs. Four of the home runs and seven of the RBIs have come since May 2.