CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A judge ordered Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Chris Terry arrested Tuesday after he failed to appear in court on a misdemeanor charge of assaulting his wife.

Defense attorney Chris Fialko told Judge Resa Harris he had scheduled to meet Terry at the courthouse before the hearing and didn't understand why the player hadn't shown up.

"I can't find him,'' Fialko said. "I don't understand why he's not here.''

Harris asked Fialko if Terry had fled. Fialko told her he didn't think so.

Terry had been free on a $2,500 bond to guarantee he would come to court to face the charge.

Terry was charged in July after his wife, NyQuell Jackson-Terry, told police the lineman pushed her into a wall during an argument at their home in south Charlotte.

The player denied hitting his wife, who was in the courtroom Tuesday.

A protective order keeps Terry away from their home, school and day-care centers attended by their children. It also prohibits Terry from possessing or buying a handgun.

Tuesday normally is a day off for NFL players and the Panthers did not hold practice.

"We're very disappointed, but have no additional information on the situation,'' team spokesman Charlie Dayton said Tuesday evening.

The team's next practice was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Fialko said he telephoned the Panthers to alert team executives that Terry failed to appear in court, but he doubted Terry would contact the team.

"He had no reason at all to report to work,'' Fialko said.

Terry, a second-round pick out of Georgia in 1999, has started all but one game on the offensive line in his three seasons with the Panthers.