Cedric Benson arrested (and now released)

I know it's quite popular to beat up on judges, "runaway juries" and lawyers, but I don't think common sense has left the law. In any case, DUI laws vary from state to state. Whether sitting behind the wheel of a car with the keys in the ignition and alcohol running in your blood constitutes OWI/DWI/DUI depends on state law. Also, there are sound reasons for allowing prosecutors to charge people with OWI/DWI/DUI for just sitting behind the wheel.

You do realize we're talking about a boat, on a trailer, in someones driveway -- right?

You do realize we're talking about a boat, on a trailer, in someones driveway -- right?

Ahhh, I went back and read your post. There has to be more to the story. Were your friend's charges dimissed? Absent some strange state law, the police should not have charged him. But, even if the charges were not dismissed and the state law is simply dumb, that sounds like an exceptional case.

People tend to harp on the exceptions, not the rules and to unfairly label the law, lawyers, and judges as dumb. Also, keep in mind that most state legislators who actually write those laws are not lawyers, juries consist of your average Joes and apply "common sense" to the law, and the people who elect legislators and judges are your average Joes. So, when the public talks about how silly the law is, they are usually talking about how silly the public is.

Apparently a girl who was on the boat has come forward saying Benson was not intoxicated, and was not resisting. She asked her parents to call 911 b/c she was concerned about his safety, and said Benson was unnecessarily pepper sprayed (cops are way to liberal nowadays with pepper spray/tazers), and it was harassment on the part of the police. I guess the girl's fiance took some pictures as well, and said Benson was being beaten and was terrified . This corroborates Benson's account of the story.

Also, I heard on the radio this morning that every single time Benson took his boat out he has been stopped for "safety checks."

Sounds fishy to me. Either Benson is repeatedly reckless with his boat, or someone has it out for him. I know how shady cops can be. I tend to side with Benson on this one as of now. The guy might be a bust and a poor teammate, but I don't think he's been a problem as far as the law is concerned.

SGG -- As I said -- many of the laws pray on those unable to afford the help, or too dumb to hire a lawyer. Court appointed lawyers either don't care and are poor lawyers.

No doubt it's rare, and the guy probably told the cop to fuck off knowing how he acts. But still -- he's on a boat. I understand keys in the ignition (although if it's winter and you're asleep in the back seat I think that should be looked at a bit different.)

PS -- Whoever put the tag 'gettin his smoot on' for this thread is a god.

Thomas Jones also had a crappy year in New York. That trade worked out well for Chicago.

Especially considering they got Matt Forte. I know everyone in Chicago wants a QB, but I think the Bears reasoning is they got to the Super Bowl with a great defense and an offense that controled the clock. With that said they really should have considered a guy like Eric Ainge in the 5th round (not JDB as I don't think he has the arm to survive in a place like Chicago). However I personally thought that Chicago's draft was great from top to bottom, though the fact that they milked every second off the clock with their two consectutive picks in the 7th round (yes I know) pissed me off.

Personally I wonder if theres something to the fact that the franchise GM is considered cheap and the fact that they have a player or two bitching about their contract each offseason. However with that said the guys on NFL Live are right about Urlacher having to choose between a long term deal and a short term deal that lets him hit FA earlier.

Police Won't Release Audio Tape of Cedric Benson's Arrest

[/URL]Posted May 21st 2008 10:50AM by [URL="http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/josh-alper/"]Josh Alper (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/bloggers/josh-alper/)
Filed under: Bears (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/chicago-bears/), NFC North (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/nfc-north/), Chicago (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/chicago/), NFL Police Blotter (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/nfl-police-blotter/)
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/sports.aol.com/fanhouse/media/2008/05/cedric-benson-180sm.jpg

The Lower Colorado River Authority and Travis County Attorney's Office have announced that they will not release the audio tape of Cedric Benson (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/tag/CedricBenson/)'s arrest on May 3rd. Benson was arrested on charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest and has charged that the police mistreated him during the incident.

KXAN, an Austin television station, issued a request (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24753759) for records associated with the case and were told that an audio tape existed. Their request for a copy of it was denied by the county and their denial was reinforced by a ruling from the Texas Attorney General.

Assistant county attorney Daniel Bradford says their decision to withhold this audio "is based on the public's desire to protect the integrity of the county's investigations into and prosecution of crime."

My first reaction to this was thinking the public would also be interested in knowing whether or not the police are treating people badly during arrests. I think there's some questions about integrity that need to be answered there, especially since there was no delay in releasing a police report characterizing Benson as hostile.

If this is going to be used as evidence at a trial, though, I suppose there would be some issues about what potential jurors might hear about the case. I'd think the same thing about the police report, though, and, again, that's public. The next court date is set for June 30th.

"Either Benson is repeatedly reckless with his boat, or someone has it out for him"

Yea, the Bears. LOL.

"You do realize we're talking about a boat, on a trailer, in someones driveway -- right?"

This is America. Anyone can plead guilty to anything. Also, I've found that people who have gotten into trouble don't always tell the whole story in detail. They tend to leave certain pertinant facts out when telling other individuals in order to get the simpathy effect. Trust me. If you were not there and were not in the court room to hear why he was charged then take what he told you at face value even if he is close friend or not.

There are some bad police officers out there no different then any of you probably have bad co-workers also. Don't let one bad apple lable the whole batch.

i still think this is a stupid thing to arrest someone for.

Especially considering they got Matt Forte. I know everyone in Chicago wants a QB, but I think the Bears reasoning is they got to the Super Bowl with a great defense and an offense that controled the clock. With that said they really should have considered a guy like Eric Ainge in the 5th round (not JDB as I don't think he has the arm to survive in a place like Chicago). However I personally thought that Chicago's draft was great from top to bottom, though the fact that they milked every second off the clock with their two consectutive picks in the 7th round (yes I know) pissed me off.

Personally I wonder if theres something to the fact that the franchise GM is considered cheap and the fact that they have a player or two bitching about their contract each offseason. However with that said the guys on NFL Live are right about Urlacher having to choose between a long term deal and a short term deal that lets him hit FA earlier.From Chicago's perspective, they can worry about a QB later. Teams don't often get a chance to change away from QBs in the middle of a window of dominance -- usually because teams with crappy QBs are hardly dominant.

At this point, it doesn't hurt to stick with Grossman. Sure, you have a guy whose upside looks something like Jon Kitna's career, but Kitna if you remember, took until his 6th and 7th NFL season to shake the crappy young QB label and pick up the savvy veteran label.

Grossman is bound to have a career year this year. Knowing the Bears, they'll misevaluate him and give him a ridiculous extension for one year of good play. But that's the funny thing about 'busts' once they become vets...they stop playing so poorly and start playing inconsistently well.

The Bears are a good bet to take the NFC this year...and it's not really because they know what they are doing. It's because if you keep shoving the round peg into the square hole, eventually, you'll make it fit. It may not look pretty, but it can be a temporary solution. Such will be the next chapter of Grossman's Bears career.

All of that stated, they are still incredibly retarded for passing over a franchise QB in Brohm for Forte. That won't hurt they're championship chase this year. It's going to make them look really horrible when Brohm is beating the crap out of them twice a season from 2010 to 2016.

Looks like someone can't stay outta trouble

ESPN - Bears' Benson arrested, charged in Austin with drunken driving - NFL (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3430752)