Hines Ward Cops A Plea
Added on Feb 22, 2012 by Jack Thurman in
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His legal team and PR flaks are framing it as a ‘victory’ but the reality is that Hines Ward copped a plea deal in his drunken driving beef on Wednesday. Ward, a Georgia native, was arrested in the early hours of July 9th on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
He released a statement at the time of his arrest denying that he was drunk, though he didn’t have a good explanation for why he was swerving and hitting curbs which is why he was pulled over in the first place. He also appeared somewhat incoherent and had glassy bloodshot eyes. In addition, he failed a field sobriety test though since he is a product of an SEC school there’s a good chance he needed to study for it.
Ward’s attorney and manager, Andy Reed (not to be confused with corpulent Philadelphia Eagles’ coach Andy Reid), deserves a bonus for this bit of semantic gymnastics suggesting that prosecutors didn’t have the goods on his client:
“We are grateful for the outcome. By dropping the DUI charge, it is clear that the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence to proceed. Hines has always maintained that his ability to drive was in no way impaired and we are pleased that the facts supported his innocence.”
“He is thankful to his legal team and to all who stood by him. Hines has a great respect for the legal system and is also grateful, in particular, to the state for the professional manner in which they handled this matter.”
Not quite, Andy….Ward may be many things but he’s not a criminal. In fact, he’s generally regarded as one of the more solid citizens in the NFL. Most likely the prosecution simply ‘worked a deal’ like they do in any case involving a defendant with a high profile and few blemishes on his character. It very likely was not dropped due to ‘lack of evidence’ but a rare desire by prosecutors not to make a minor infraction into a media circus.
Ward was given a year on probation, a $2000 fine and was assigned 80 hours of community service. He also must undergo alcohol evaluation.
