Posts from the Nfl Police Blotter Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Willie Andrews will now have all kinds of time to pretend-shoot his fiancé. After being arrested for pointing a gun to the head of the future Ms. Andrews, the Patriots took the totally predictable step of releasing him. Obviously, buying illegal drugs is a much smarter career move. Or being something more than an easily replaceable fringe player.

On Tuesday, Josh Alper made the point that in the NFL, talent is always weighed against criminal activity, and yesterday, the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan wrote an entire column on the subject.

It's hardly surprising to learn that, despite the Al Saunders-playbook-length rap sheet, Dig Dug Jones can get another shot at redemption, but the NFL is all about winning and sometimes criminal activity takes a backseat to talent.

There's nothing new in all this. Seldom does honor trump pragmatism in the world of professional sports. Did I say "professional"? Make that sports, period. The late and truly great Abe Lemons was once asked why he didn't have a curfew for his Oklahoma City University basketball team. " 'Cause you always catch the wrong guys," he explained.

After three years and double-digit arrests, Chris Henry has finally caught a break: a jury of his peers could not reach a verdict in a case in which the former Bengals wide receiver was accused of punching a University of Cincinnati student in the gourd last March.

That's right: hung trial = Henry is now a free man. Until the pre-trial hearings next week, anyway. In the meantime, he can remove the electronic ankle monitor he's been sporting, but the judge ordered him to "stay away from the victim and the witnesses in the case."

The Bengals released Henry in April, shortly after the incident in question took place, and to date, there's been no interest from other NFL teams, presumably because they were awaiting the outcome of this trial. Or maybe everybody's just decided that Henry's on-field talent isn't worth the headache that comes with inability to stay out of jail.

But who knows, maybe a little time away from the game would do Henry some good. I mean, look what it did for Dig Dug Jones. First things first, though: Henry's going to need a ride home from the courthouse. And, oh, yeah, he needs a home, too.

Hat tip: MDS at PFT

Well, that didn't take very long. Willie Andrews, arrested for pointing a gun at the head of his fiancee over the weekend, was released by the New England Patriots today.

It didn't take Nostradamus to see this move coming. Andrews had already been arrested once this offseason, a marijuana charge, when police were summoned to his apartment on Sunday night. He faces charges of a assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm after allegedly placing the gun on his girlfriend's temple because he thought she was cheating on him.

On the great scale of NFL justice, talent is always weighed against criminal activity. Andrews's importance to the team couldn't overcome the embarrassment he's brought them over the past few months. He'll probably face disciplinary action from the NFL if another team deems him worthy of a chance but I wouldn't hold my breath for the next sighting of Andrews on a Sunday afternoon.

In semi-related news, Andrews's release adds to what's been a hellish offseason for the Boston Herald. The paper lauded Andrews for turning his life around late last month. Time for another retraction.

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Derrick Martin was arrested over the weekend for marijuana possession. Since Martin isn't a big name, that's the kind of story that usually gets reported and then forgotten.

But Martin lied about it, and the Baltimore Sun showed absolutely no skepticism at all about that lie, so here we are, still talking about it.

To review: As soon as Martin claimed that he hadn't been arrested, the Baltimore Sun put up a headline reading, "Ravens' Martin Mistakenly Linked to Drug Arrest: Initial media reports implicated cornerback for Cleveland airport stop, but clarification revealed man had same name, birth date."

Hell of a coincidence, huh? Two guys with the exact same name and exact same birth date, both listing addresses in Owings Mills, Maryland, the city where the Ravens' headquarters are located.

Now the Sun has finally caught on that no, it wasn't another guy named Derrick Martin who was born on the same day as the Derrick Martin who plays for the Ravens and lives in the city where the Ravens are based. It was the Ravens' Derrick Martin who was arrested. Glad we've cleared that up.

New England Patriots defensive back Willie Andrews has been arrested and accused of pointing a gun at his fiancee's head.

Andrews' fiancee says he pointed the gun at her after she accused him of cheating on her. She told police she was scared because he "threatened to shoot her in the past." He faces a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

This was the second arrest for Andrews this off-season. The day after the Super Bowl, he was arrested for marijuana possession.

Last month the Boston Herald ran a puff piece about Andrews, talking about how he had put all his problems behind him. Now he likely has put his NFL career behind him; it will be a big surprise if New England doesn't release him.

Via PFT.

Yesterday's news that Ravens cornerback Derrick Martin got arrested in the Cleveland airport for marijuana possession didn't raise much of an eyebrow. Sadly, we're all to accustomed to NFL players running afoul of the law and TSA agents finding weed in a travel bag is all too believably routine to elicit surprise. Martin denying it was him, though, is a new twist.

The Baltimore Sun apparently believes Martin's story, since they are running a story about the case under the headline "Ravens Martin mistakenly linked to drug arrest." A click on the link, however, finds an AP story which merely says that a man with the same name and date of birth as Martin was arrested in the Cleveland airport.

A Ravens spokesman, Kevin Byrne, says that Martin denies the incident ever happened. According to the Carroll County Times, the Derrick Martin who was arrested listed his hometown as Owings Mills, Maryland. Raven watchers know that's where the team's headquarters are located, which makes it a pretty plausible address for a player on the team.

That all adds up to one helluva coincidence. There are eight Derrick Martins living in Maryland listed on Whitepages.com, though none of those men live in Owings Mills. If Martin is telling the truth, great, but if he isn't he may be making things much worse for himself. The marijuana charge carries a $100 fine as penalty but the NFL frowns upon players trying to cover up arrests.

(H/T PFT)

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Derrick Martin was cited for drug possession at Cleveland Hopkins Airport Saturday, WKYC in Cleveland is reporting.

According to a police spokesman, TSA screeners discovered Martin with three bags of marijuana. It is not clear exactly what crime he's accused of or how much marijuana he had on him.

Martin was the Ravens' sixth-round draft pick out of Wyoming in 2006. He played eight games as a rookie and all 16 in 2007, including three starts at cornerback.

Via PFT.

Everyone who follows the NFL knows that Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall can't stay out of trouble. But a Denver Post investigation reveals that Marshall's problems go beyond just his two arrests last year and his one this year.

For starters, police were called to domestic disputes between Marshall and his girlfriend three times in three months in 2007. In all three cases, the woman said Marshall punched her. Police made no arrests in any of the incidents.

His girlfriend's friend also told police that Marshall hit her car with his while the girlfriend was a passenger, then threw a rock at the car. Marshall wasn't arrested in that incident, either.

Marshall has also been charged with crimes including retail theft to assault on an officer, and his own father once told police Marshall shot a gun during an argument they had in a parking lot.

Looking at the totality of Marshall's rap sheet, it's reminiscent of Adam "Pacman" Jones: No individual incident was serious enough to put him behind bars, but the cumulative effect is likely enough for a lengthy suspension from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Via PFT.

It took a month, but we've finally gotten to the bottom of the nowhere-close-to-murder mystery involving Bills running back Marshawn Lynch, his SUV, and some poor, unsuspecting lass who got runned over.

Last week, Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark announced that Lynch had agreed to a deal but neglected to go into detail. Now we know: Lynch will lose his driving privileges after his SUV accidentally struck a Canadian woman.

"I didn't know my car had hit anyone or anything," Lynch mumbled to reporters Friday afternoon before heading into traffic court to plead guilty to a violation. "So I continued on my way home. I apologize to Ms. [Kimberly] Shpeley for any injuries she suffered."

And with that -- along with a $100 fine -- the case is closed. Presumably, Lynch made his way to traffic court, paid the fine, turned over his license, and had somebody drive him home.

Because the wounds suffered by the woman weren't considered to be of the "serious physical injury" variety, Lynch avoided criminal charges. Instead, he plead guilty to a single count of failure to exercise due care to avoid striking a pedestrian, which is just a traffic violation.

On a completely random, local-celebrity note: the News notes that as he left the courthouse, "a woman on the street recognized Lynch and began to shout: 'Touchdown! Touchdown!'"

I'm guessing that doesn't happen to everyone.

This is both funny and tragic at the same time. Former Bengals' WR Chris Henry was in court during jury selection for his assault trial, his car was being repossessed right outside (you can see a picture of it being towed here).

The SUV was hooked to the tow truck, but didn't get towed because the lot's owners ordered the tow truck off the lot. The lot owners said that, since they didn't call the truck, it couldn't take the SUV.

Now, Henry is saying that it is all some sort of misunderstanding ... but this is just plain stupid. If you haven't been paying your car note for a while, why drive that car to the one place where everyone knows you will be.

"Let's see, I need to find Chris Henry's car to repo it. Hmmm. He's due to be in court today. I'll take the tow truck by the courthouse to see if he is dumb enough to drive it there."

In all seriousness, this cannot end well for Henry. He had his house, essentially, repo'd last month after just paying $800 in over two years on it. He doesn't seem to be that smart when it comes to managing money, he has no job, he has a lot of legal fees and it wasn't like he was a highly paid player when he was with the Bengals.