Michael Bennett Faces Felony Charges

jose melendez

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From the DA

mmediately following the game, Bennett shoved his way on to the field where players were gathering to celebrate.

NRG Security personnel, including the 66-year-old disabled victim, told Bennett he had to use a different entrance for field access.

Instead, he pushed through them, including the elderly woman who was part of the security team.

The charge, injury to the elderly, includes intentionally and knowingly, causing bodily injury to a person 65 years or older.

Question for the lawyers, is it normal for an indictment for something like this to be brought so long after the complaint? Also, with the limited info available this really seems like an overcharge.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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From the DA




Question for the lawyers, is it normal for an indictment for something like this to be brought so long after the complaint? Also, with the limited info available this really seems like an overcharge.
Odd, but not unprecedented. Most likely the victim didn't report it immediately. If it wasn't something that the HPD was aware of, they wouldn't have been investigating until a complaint was made (possibly even if they were aware). So usually when you have time between the incident and a warrant/indictment it's often because of how and when the complaint is made.

I don't want to take a skeptical view here, but its possible the victim would not have filed a report if it wasn't a professional athlete. So there may be a civil suit involved here and its possible she wasn't pushing things until it became clear to her the guy that pushed her plays football for a nice sum of money.

The felony aspect of an assault charge is because the victim is elderly. It's probably misdemeanor assault under Texas law if he pushes your average adult male, but when its a woman, child, elderly, or serious injury, its usually felony assault from the jump.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Odd, but not unprecedented. Most likely the victim didn't report it immediately. If it wasn't something that the HPD was aware of, they wouldn't have been investigating until a complaint was made (possibly even if they were aware). So usually when you have time between the incident and a warrant/indictment it's often because of how and when the complaint is made.
The article says an incident report was filed that night but that there was a delay because of "resources and priorities." Not exactly a quote that resonates with jurors, I wouldn't think.

It appears that Georgia has a special statute for injury to elderly, which makes what otherwise would probably be less severe crimes a felony if the victim is over 65. These statutes are relatively common -- they elevate batteries to higher level offenses for domestic situations, pregnant women, people who serve alcohol, sports officials, etc. The victim in this case is 66, which means that Bennett really screwed up in his choice of victim (not to mention the victim appears to be severely disabled).

Some of these statues have knowledge requirements -- you must know the person is in the protected category (that is, you must know the person is 65 or pregnant or a sports official or whatever the category is).
 

Pesky Pole

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It was Houston, not Georgia. And she was an elderly paraplegic woman which may explain the elevated charge. No idea what he did but he assaulted a woman who was 66 years old and a paraplegic.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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It was Houston, not Georgia. And she was an elderly paraplegic woman which may explain the elevated charge. No idea what he did but he assaulted a woman who was 66 years old and a paraplegic.
I took a quick look at the Texas statute and it appears that knowledge that the person is elderly (over 65) does not appear required if the conduct was reckless. So, Bennett might be in trouble.
 

DJnVa

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It was Houston, not Georgia. And she was an elderly paraplegic woman which may explain the elevated charge. No idea what he did but he assaulted a woman who was 66 years old and a paraplegic.
This is not going to sound the way I intend it, but does it strike anyone else as odd that a 66 year old paraplegic is working security?
 

Marciano490

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This is not going to sound the way I intend it, but does it strike anyone else as odd that a 66 year old paraplegic is working security?
I’m sure they had backup. It was probably just an honorary position for a fan.
 

SoxinSeattle

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It was Houston, not Georgia. And she was an elderly paraplegic woman which may explain the elevated charge. No idea what he did but he assaulted a woman who was 66 years old and a paraplegic.
Huh? If we have no idea what he did how do we know he assaulted this woman?
 

SMU_Sox

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Huh? If we have no idea what he did how do we know he assaulted this woman?
I took that as assault can be done in a variety of ways and we don’t know how he allegedly assaulted her.

I’m a firm believer in not overreacting or even reacting until we have all the facts though. Not always a popular opinion. Obviously there is something here and we will know more in the coming days/weeks.
 

Oil Can Dan

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Police chief calls MB a scumbag, yet they waited over a year to get around to charging him cause they were too busy.

Something doesn’t add up here.
 

riboflav

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Oh man. What a world. Pushing your way through a crowd is now a felony... against a successful black man of course. What a world. Snowflakes unite!
 

Van Everyman

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Globe has a write up that explains this in more detail, which is helpful because I couldn’t understand what the hell this was all about:

Bennett was a spectator at the game at NRG Stadium in Houston in February 2017 when he tried to get onto the field immediately afterward to see his brother, Martellus Bennett, a tight end for the Patriots at the time. Prosecutors allege he pushed through security personnel, including a 66-year-old woman in a wheelchair who was a stadium employee and who had told him to use a different entrance to access the field. Bennett is also accused of pushing two other people, including another woman, and ignoring a request by a police officer to stop as he made his way onto the field.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Bennett allegedly told the people he had pushed, ‘‘You all must know who I am and I can own this [expletive]. I’m going down to the field, whether you like it or not.’’

Acevedo called Bennett ‘‘morally bankrupt’’ for pushing the two women. Police said the disabled woman suffered a sprained shoulder when she was allegedly pushed by Bennett, hitting the back of her 800-pound, motorized wheelchair.

‘‘Mr. Bennett may think that because he’s an NFL player and some time passed . . . he may have thought that, number one, rules don’t apply to him, number two, he doesn’t have to respect the dignity of a paraplegic woman who’s trying to earn a living,’’ Acevedo said at a news conference.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2018/03/23/eagles-michael-bennett-indicted-for-injuring-paraplegic-woman/sFuru56x3RctLtYO1KFU2O/story.html

In related news, Marty retired [emoji22]:
 

Oil Can Dan

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How the hell is a Chief of Police of a major metropolitan area calling someone yet to be interviewed let alone convicted morally bankrupt in the press?? This whole thing is beyond bizarre.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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How the hell is a Chief of Police of a major metropolitan area calling someone yet to be interviewed let alone convicted morally bankrupt in the press?? This whole thing is beyond bizarre.
Well, they did put on a case to the grand jury and so victims and witnesses presumably testified.

There may be two sides to the story, but I don’t know what’s bizarre about the police thinking that someone who does a do you know who I am and pushes an elderly parapelegic is morally bankrupt.

If he didn’t do it then he’s being falsely accused. If he did it then it’s like the definition of morally bankrupt.
 

bibajesus

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This is not going to sound the way I intend it, but does it strike anyone else as odd that a 66 year old paraplegic is working security?
Its extra odd that Bob McNair hired someone who definitely doesn't stand for the national anthem.
 
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SMU_Sox

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Police chief calls MB a scumbag, yet they waited over a year to get around to charging him cause they were too busy.

Something doesn’t add up here.
You’d be surprised how long it can take. My ex brother-in-law was shot in the back of the head (bullet is still there by the way) and it took between 1-2 years to indict the guy who did it (took a week to find him). That was in Dallas County though - which, like Harris, is a major urban county in Texas. (On mobile, link: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/03/25/mesquite-man-injured-in-apparent-road-rage-shooting/)
 

PaulinMyrBch

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How the hell is a Chief of Police of a major metropolitan area calling someone yet to be interviewed let alone convicted morally bankrupt in the press?? This whole thing is beyond bizarre.
The optics on public figures or famous defendants is so different from the garden variety stuff a prosecutor or top cop deals with that some of them are just bad at the press aspect. Press conferences about the case, status updates to media outlets, etc. are often a trainwreck because they just aren't used to explaining their actions to anyone. It's bizarre in some cases but I've seen it over and over.
 

snowmanny

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I'm not sure what the Houston PD is thinking.

Although...

Lifetime protection/mulligans/goodwill from the Las Vegas police department would be a valuable benefit for some people.
 

InstaFace

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How the hell is a Chief of Police of a major metropolitan area calling someone yet to be interviewed let alone convicted morally bankrupt in the press?? This whole thing is beyond bizarre.
The deadspin article put this into sharper relief for me:

Acevedo had harsh words for Bennett throughout the press conference, repeatedly invoking the incident in question to make points about Bennett’s supposedly shaky morals. Bennett, who has a book coming out next week, has been one of the most outspoken NFL players on the issue of police officer shooting and killing unarmed black people, and last fall, Bennett said Las Vegas PD officers handcuffed him and threatened to “blow [his] fucking head off” after mistakenly identifying him as a possible shooter.
If there were contemporaneous articles or mentions I'd find it a whole lot less suspect.
 

DJnVa

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I thought that video came out on that Vegas incident that it wasn't what Bennett had said?
 

Oil Can Dan

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Well, they did put on a case to the grand jury and so victims and witnesses presumably testified.

There may be two sides to the story, but I don’t know what’s bizarre about the police thinking that someone who does a do you know who I am and pushes an elderly parapelegic is morally bankrupt.

If he didn’t do it then he’s being falsely accused. If he did it then it’s like the definition of morally bankrupt.
There "may be two sides to the story"? Yes. Nothing in your reply to my post addressed the specific concern I had. I didn't cite the testimony of the defendant during the Grand Jury, I cited the fact that they had not yet interviewed the defendant (nor seen any video or audio evidence) yet felt it warranted to call the defendant 'morally bankrupt' and "morally corrupt". Over an at worst "do you know who I am" moment after the Super Bowl ended in sudden death. Him big-timing gameday staff is seriously a felony? Again, this is *if* that's what happened. Apparently the on-site police officer that witnessed this didn't see fit to arrest him at any point in time.

I realize this is the defendant's attorney, but as to the 'morally bankrupt' comment Rusty Hardin said "I’ve never seen it before. We don’t talk about capital murder defendants like that."

That's kinda my point. There's a lot here that just stinks.
 
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LondonSox

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it's all soooooo weird.
The claim that the police officer witnessed this assault and lost him in the crowd... Michael Bennett that small dude.
Then the long delay and the fact that the police are talking like he's done and guilty and more.

His sister says she was there, and saw the whole incident and has some of it on camera and it is all bullshit but her lawyer won't let her post the video at this point

It's all so weird but something smells very off.
 

dcmissle

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Not weird is the gum snapping cheerleader, Pete Carroll, remaining a full step ahead of the law. Had he brought a portion of that savvy and street smarts to the job of HC of the NEP, B.B. likely would have landed elsewhere, so I guess I’m happy he was young and naive.
 

bigq

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Not weird is the gum snapping cheerleader, Pete Carroll, remaining a full step ahead of the law. Had he brought a portion of that savvy and street smarts to the job of HC of the NEP, B.B. likely would have landed elsewhere, so I guess I’m happy he was young and naive.
I must have missed something. What does Pete Carroll have to do with Michael Bennett facing a felony charge?
 

dcmissle

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March 7, Michael Bennett traded by Seahawks to Eagles.

March 23, Michael Bennett indicted.

Keep smiling, keep clappin', march down the sideline, don't look back.
 

bigq

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March 7, Michael Bennett traded by Seahawks to Eagles.

March 23, Michael Bennett indicted.

Keep smiling, keep clappin', march down the sideline, don't look back.
Got it. Carroll knew Bennett was in trouble so traded damaged goods and hoodwinked the Eagles. Interesting theory.