CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Relived and overjoyed are just two words that describe Mark Walton's mood after all criminal charges were dropped against him this week.
Walton, the star running back for the University of Miami football team, spoke Wednesday for the first time since his April arrest.
"I'm thankful to be back on the team," Walton said. "I'm happy that all of this is over with and I just want -- my biggest thing about this whole situation is the way they put dirt on my name. The things that were said about me and the way my character is not to do."
The 19-year-old was arrested on charges of DUI and driving with a suspended license, but a Breathalyzer test showed he was under the 0.08 legal limit for those 21 and older.
Assistant state attorney Nicole Garcia said in a close-out memorandum that the state did not find sufficient evidence to prove the charges "beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt."
"The declination to file criminal charges as a function of prosecutorial discretion should not be used to presume wrongdoing on the part of the Miami Police Department or any of its officers," Chief Rodolfo Llanes said in a release.
A woman also accused Walton of impersonating a police officer during a traffic stop in April.
Walton denied the accusation, and his attorney suggested that Walton was set up after being lured to the arrest location.
Walton's attorney Wednesday released an exchange of text messages between him and his accuser.
"Well my girls just left, so you gonna pick me up?" the accuser said.
"U want to hang with me? LOL you sure if I drink I will call my driver to drive us," Walton said.
"The question is can you hang with me," the accuser said.
"Lol you sure if I drink I will call my driver to drive us," Walton said.
"That's fine we can take an Uber if anything, but hurry cause being alone I can pass out," the accuser said.
"Uber to me I will take you back," Walton said.
Walton was suspended from the team after his arrest, but he has since been reinstated.
Walton's attorney has filed a complaint with the internal affairs division of the Miami Police Department and plans to do the same with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the circumstances surrounding his client's arrest.