Is Cedric Benson playing the race card?

I don’t know the other case you’re citing, so I can’t comment. On the CB case I’m going strictly by what is known. It is known this is not his first run in with the law, it is known another act by him where he is at fault could result in losing millions. Nothing personal about the cop has surfaced AFAIK- if it turns out this is the fifih accusation against him, that changes things. I don’t know about the people who came forth, except one is a drunk privileged white girl apparently, who I assume knows nothing about police procedure. People see the portion of the Rodney King tape for example and just about everyone thinks its excessive, but not being a cop and not knowing what went on beforehand, that may or may not be true.

All his friends said Benson did nothing wrong, and a third person who we also know nothing about said same. ALl of which know nothing I assuming of textbook police procedure and maybe did not see the entire thing, I don’t know. I’m no cop lover, but absent any reason to suspect otherwise, when dealing with a cop and a person with priors in a situation like his, I tend to go with the cop until there is reason to do otherwise.

And I’d guess for every valid claim of police abuse, there is a false one against police. I just read about a recent case in Arkansas of a cop who shot a young teen black, as the cop said he pointed a toy gun at him and he thought it was real, told the kid to drop it and he didn’t. The family attacks the cop, who has no prior instances IIRC, saying the son didn’t own this toy. But kids friend said he did. Then family says ok, he owned it but didn’t have it on him. Then kids friend said he did. Then OK he owned it, had it on him but wouldn’t point it a cop, and on and on. So while I am with you on the side of true victims of cops, I also sympathize with cops who are slandered by faux victims when they did their job correctly.

Can I get a cite saying she was proven to be drunk? Surely, if you’re talking about Elizabeth Cartwright, she wasn’t too drunk to have the presence of mind to take legible pictures of the incident. I’m also curious what you think being “privileged” or “white” has to do with her account of what happened to a black police detainee? And why do you think someone needs to be an expert on police procedure to be a reliable witness? Additionally, her account is corroborated by the other eyewitness, Toby Patch, who does not know her or Benson.

There’s a first time for everything.

If you think proper police procedure includes of what included in the quote below, where there’s no indication the witness did not see everything in the sequence he’s claiming to have witnessed, then I feel sorry for you and your view of the world and what’s just, fair and legal.

"Toby Patch claims he saw police “manhandling” Benson after taking him off the boat and heading to a squad car. Patch was not one of the 15 people on the boat.

"As they were taking him up the dock, they stopped. He said, ‘I am fine, I can continue walking,’ and they put their legs behind his knees and knocked him over his knees and started hog-carrying him," Patch told WXAN-TV in Austin.

Near the parking area, Patch says the treatment of Benson worsened.

They ended up—I don’t know why—but laid him on his back, I heard him say, ‘lease don’t pepper-spray me, please don’t pepper-spray me,’ " Patch said. "It was uncalled for, it was ludicrous, no point for it.”

While I cannot begrudge your bringing up other situation to back up your arguments here, since I did so, but just because some people abuse the system, not all do so. To me, witness testimony and evidentiary photographs, especially corraborative statements from people who do not know each other, make it seem more likely Benson is telling the truth, not less so.

Do you have a reason you want him to have been lying?

I barely knew who Cedric Benson was before this, and as I am not a Bears fan, I have no grudge against him. One thing I would bet my life on though, is that during this incident he didn’t utter the exact words “I am fine, I can continue walking”- who talks like that, drunk or not? And why would you even make a statement like that, if you weren’t refusing to walk? I don’t get it. The woman on board, could have been a teetotaler for all I know, but she was on a boat with others drinking. And alcohol has a tendency to affect judgment and perception.

Bneson claimed everyone on the boat “was having a good time”, i.e. drinking, but he only had the proverbial two. If I had to put my life on whether Benson did nothing at wrong, not one thing, I just wouldn’t do it.

And even if you ar two feet away and saw the whole thing, aren’t drunk and don’t care either way, you can see a cop “manhandling a guy for no reason”, when in fact the reason was wiseapple moved his arms around to keep the cuffs from going on, or stiffened up when cop is trying to walk you, things like that. I have no idea if any of this happened, just that it happens all the time on COPS, perp is screaming “I’m not doing anything”, but they are. Usually when drunk.

It seems like they and other boaters think boating drunk is not a big deal and don’t understand why its enforced, which is insane- most boating accidents and fatalities involve alcohol. If the cop is wrong, he should be punished- Benson has plenty of recourse to after him, but if Benson’s wrong, the cop gets smeared and has little recourse. Just like you don’t assume if a patient dies that the doctor did something wrong, I don’t think you assume a cop was wrong without reason or proof. Silly as it is, they are sworn to uphold the law, not abuse citizens, etc. I think.

I’ll point out a few more errors and inconsistencies in your judgment then I’m done.

I find it passing strange that a fervent sports fan like you doesn’t know who he is but you have instant recall of his past run-ins with the law.

Perhaps the witness was paraphrasing and perhaps Benson was responding to a particularly question/jibe from the cops.

If she was a teetotaler, as far as you know, how would alcohol affect her judgment and perception at all. Which one is it? You stated, without qualification, that she was a drink white girl.

Why does “good time” have to mean everyone was “drinking”? Is that what it always means to you personally? People have a good time all the time without drinking, even around other drinkers. I have a good time a lot without drinking when I know I’ll be driving home.

Read the quote and/or the linked article; he was already being lead off the boat so he was in cuffs. As to the rest, why say anything civil, even if the witness paraphrase is off, if you’re determined to stiff-walk enough to be brutalize by the cops.

Besides, if COPS is your window on America, let me enlighten you. Those snippets you see are hand-picked and edited from among the worst of the worst to present the worst.

I have no problem with someone being arrested for boating while drunk – that’s absolutely dangerous. I do have a problem with brutalization of arrestees, even if they’re asking questions or mouthing off. No police procedure I know of condones that.

Silly as it is, I thought so too until I was handcuffed and taken to jail for demanding that they question the witnesses standing around who watched somone assault me and for asking for their badge number.

Doesn’t really matter, but I thought this line was funny. Normally you’d hear people say “I have nothing against the Bears, so I have no grudge” but in this case it’s assumed that the people most likely to have a grudge against Benson are Bears fans.

They might not cut him because of the incident, but they might cut him:

a. because he sucks
b. cap room
c. change in direction
d. all of the above