RUTHFULLY YOURS

It is hard to say what exactly NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem are protesting, but if it is alleged social injustice and police brutality against African-Americans, these players have to explain their own record of brutality and injustice against their fellow Americans.

We are all familiar with the workplace sign touting the number of days since the last accident. NFL locker rooms should have a sign showing the last player arrest for a criminal act. As of September 25, as Joseph Curl points out at the Daily Wire, it had been a mere 23 days since the last NFL player had been arrested for a crime. The average is about a week between NFL player arrests:

The average time between arrests is just seven days, while the record without an arrest is slightly more than two months, at 65 days, according to NFLarrest.com, which “provides an interactive visualized database of National Football League player Arrests & Charges,” the site says.

Players get arrested for a variety of crimes: drunk driving, drug offenses, domestic violence, assault and battery, gun violations, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, theft, burglary, rape and even murder

The NFL virtually embraces players who abuse women. Take this report in the Chicago Tribune: “In the first round [of the 2017 draft], the Oakland Raiders drafted Gareon Conley, who has been accused of rape. In the second round, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Joe Mixon, who in a much-viewed video punches a woman so hard that she falls down unconscious. In the sixth round, the Cleveland Browns selected Caleb Brantley, who was accused of doing pretty much what Mixon did.”

You might not be able to access NFLarrest.com. Recently the website was down due to heavy traffic, probably from disgruntled fans, many of them veterans, curious about the hypocrisy of the NFL and its players regarding violence and brutality. An early 2017 database of NFL player-criminals is available here.

Perhaps the most notorious NFL player-criminal was Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots, who was convicted of murder:

Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction was formally vacated on Tuesday by a judge in Massachusetts because Mr. Hernandez died before his appeal was heard.

Mr. Hernandez, a former tight end with the New England Patriots, was convicted in 2015 in the killing of Odin L. Lloyd, who was dating the sister of his fiancée. Mr. Hernandez hanged himself in prison last month….

“In our book, he’s guilty, and he’s going to always be guilty,” Mr. Lloyd’s mother, Ursula Ward, told reporters after the ruling.

Another player arrested for a criminal act which killed people was Leonard Little. If you want talk about flaws in the criminal justice system, look at his crimes and the meager punishment:

Little was a star player in college and was drafted as an All-American into the NFL in 1998. The same year the North Carolina native started playing for the big leagues, Little left a birthday party drunk and decided to drive home anyway. In an inebriated state, the St. Louis Rams player drove through a red light, crashed into a vehicle, killing a mother and two children. Little was lucky and didn’t go to prison but instead received four years probation and 1,000 hours of community service.  In 2004, Little was arrested again for driving drunk upon failing three roadside sobriety tests. He was sentenced to two years probation.

Most people remember the case of star NFL quarterback Michael Vick, convicted for his role in a dog fighting enterprise:

Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for running a “cruel and inhumane” dog fighting ring and lying about it.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.

After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: “You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you.”

“Yes, sir,” Vick answered.

The 27-year-old player acknowledged using “poor judgment” and added, “I’m willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions.”

Which is more than one can say about the NFL and some of its players. With little notice from a sympathetic legacy media, a good number of those taking a knee in protest of social injustice have criminal records:

Some of those who participated in the protest have been arrested for a variety of crimes, including:

•Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler, for battery and assault in two separate incidents in July 2017 and March 2016, respectively

•Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, for aggravated assault in March 2003 and leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a suspended license in March 2016

•New Orleans Saints running back Adrian Peterson, for injury to a child in Sept. 2014

•Kansas City Chiefs tight end Demetrius Harris, for felony marijuana possession in March 2017

•Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, for marijuana possession in Aug. 2014

•Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, for felony drug possession and reckless endangerment behind the wheel in two separate incidents in May 2014

•Seattle Seahawks practice quarterback Trevone Boykin, for marijuana possession and violating probation in March 2017 and April 2017, respectively

•Baltimore Ravens former linebacker Ray Lewis, for murder in Jan. 2000; he ultimately testified in the case and received one year of probation and a $250,000 fine from the NFL

•New Orleans Saints defensive end Alex Okafor, for evading arrest and running from the scene after police tried to detain him in March 2015

•Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Derrick Morgan, for speeding and driving with a suspended license in June 2010

•Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Artie Burns, for driving with a suspended license in June 2017

•Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller, for failure to appear in court on previous traffic charges, including careless driving and driving without a license, in Aug. 2013 and cited for driving with a suspended license in Sept. 2013

These arrest records only touch on past run-ins that protesting NFL players have had with law enforcement.

In the first three weeks of this football season, there were an impressive 32 arrests of NFL players. Again, as Joseph Curl points out at the Daily Wire, the NFL could have its own cable crime series:

The top team — at least in arrests — is, weirdly, the Minnesota Vikings, according to NFLarrest.com. Rounding out the Top 5: Denver, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Jacksonville.

By year, 2006 was a doozy: 71 arrests of NFL players. 2013 had 62 arrests, while last year was the lowest in the data base at just 28 arrests. This year, the players are setting a torrid pace:

•Assault and battery – 7

•Drugs – 6

•DUI – 5

•Domestic violence – 5

•Disorderly conduct – 4

•Resisting arrest – 2

•Guns – 1

•License/traffic – 1

•Other – 1

…The most arrests: Adam Jones, with 10. Jones has played for both Tennessee and Cincinnati, and he’s been accused of poking a hotel worker in the eye, punching a woman, spitting in a woman’s face at a nightclub, and was “charged with felony coercion in connection to strip club shooting that paralyzed a man” (take a look at all his arrests here).

The NFL has made a fortune on what many consider a sport which encourages and profits from violence, while ignoring players who later suffered crippling and deadly brain conditions. The NFL is a physician that needs to heal itself first.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.