The Storyteller that is Cedric Benson

This is one of the more insane things I've heard in the past few days and I had to pass along my thoughts from a legal perspective. As you may have heard, Chicago Bears RB Cedric Benson was arrested for Boating While Intoxicated and Resisting Arrest in Texas last weekend. The following, according to ESPN.com, is what the police say he did, versus what Cedric said. Hilarity ensues:

POLICE: "Benson was operating the boat with 15 family members and friends aboard when he was stopped by a Lower Colorado River Authority officer for a random safety inspection. He failed a field sobriety test on the officer's boat and was uncooperative when the officer tried to take him ashore, the authority said.

"When Benson did not pass the test, he presented himself as a threat to the officer and argued about whether or not he would be taken to land to have a follow-up field sobriety test performed on land and refused to put on a life jacket," the authority said in a statement. The officer had to use pepper spray to subdue Benson, a move the running back doesn't understand. Benson then refused to leave the officer's boat and authorities had to drag him to a car to be taken to the Travis County jail, the authority said. "

BENSON: ""I was not intoxicated," Benson told the Chicago Sun-Times. "There was alcohol on the boat and others were enjoying themselves, but I wasn't drunk."

"They gave me a field sobriety test, told me to say my ABCs and told me to count from 1 to 4 up and down," Benson told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm thinking, I passed all the tests, did everything right. Then the officer told me we needed to go to land to take more tests. I politely asked him why we needed to go to land to take more tests when I took every test. Then he sprayed me with mace, on his boat.
"I'm not handcuffed. I'm not under arrest. I'm not threatening him. I'm not pushing him. I'm not touching him. And he sprays me right in my eye." "Even after they pepper-sprayed me, I have no idea why they did that. I was cooperative," Benson told the Sun-Times. "I asked them several times why they did that and they didn't give me an answer."

"Nobody saw what he did to me," Benson told the newspaper. "I started screaming for my mother to come. That's when they put me under arrest. And the officer threw a life jacket over my head.
"Once we got to land, the Travis County police grabbed me and kicked my feet from under me. So I landed on my back while I was handcuffed. They held me down and held the water hose over my face. I couldn't breathe, I'm choking, I'm begging the cops, 'Please stop. Please stop.' Then they picked me up and dragged me backward toward their car. And I'm still being polite, asking them, 'Sir, could you please allow me to walk like a man to your cop car?' They just kept dragging me on."

"This [arrest] is tough to deal with because you're guilty until proven innocent," Benson told the newspaper. "My name is blasted out there like I was fighting these police officers or something. That totally was not the deal. I'm not stupid."

Um.... OK. That is two pretty different opinions on what happened here. Look, I more than anyone, understand that police don't always tell the whole truth, and that they are human, and overreact to situations, and use too much force on occasion. Also, this tends to happen when minorities are involved. It happens quite frequently actually.

That being said: If an officer thinks you failed a field sobriety test, IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER IF YOU THINK YOU PASSED IT! And I doubt very much that he was "being polite" even after being held under a water hose.

If this had happened in Wisconsin (and I'm sure the law is slightly different in Texas) here is what would happen: Police give you the tests, if they say you failed (at least at that point) you failed, and you don't get to have an opinion (polite or not) in the matter. If at that point they ask you (or more likely tell you in a impolite fashion) to come with them, and you ask "Why?", especially when the police are outnumbered at least 15 to 2, it is quite possible you are going to get tasered or pepper sprayed. My guess is the police grabbed his arm to cuff him, and he pulled it away (which is resisting arrest) Or at least will say that is what happened. [UPDATE: Upon telling Benson he was under arrest and about to be put in handcuffs, "I touched his body in an attempt to direct him and he presented himself in a very hostile way,'' Snyder wrote in the report. "Benson [5-foot-11, 220 pounds] is a very muscular person and easily capable of overpowering me. As I had exhausted all attempts to gain control of Benson, and been met with resistance and what I perceived as a threat, I administered pepper spray into Benson's face to gain control." TOLD YOU SO.]

Do I agree with the way the pepper spraying seems to have gone down? No. But regardless of the shenanigans that followed, the failing of the sobriety test gave them probable cause to arrest Benson, and Benson's polite "Why" could be construed as resisting (which was probably charged due to how everything went down). [On a side note, I find it convenient that none of the other 15 people saw any of this happen.]

So pending the chemical test for alcohol, and the officer's testimony, Benson will more than likely be convicted. The amount of force used by officers is a completely separate issue, and whether or not it was excessive doesn't get Benson off of the charges. This is something that happens a lot with criminal defendants where they feel they need to fight charges that they are absolutely guilty of because they feel they are wronged by police. Benson would have to file some type of discrimination suit in federal or state court, or file a complaint with the police department (which would be pointless) if he wants his day in court on the pepper spray issue.

I think this is hilarious as a whole, and I'm super glad to see a Chicago Bear player in this situation and not a Packer.