Thread: AP arrested..

Originally Posted by mountainviking

Seems to me Off-Duty means you are NOT a cop at the moment. I too know several local and nearby city officers, and I know that when they are off, they often like to be way off as in deep in their cups so to speak. I wonder how much the bouncers were drinking that night.

I guess its just that we've never heard of anything like this with AP. He has been nothing but humble and hard working from every account, for his entire life. Just seems out of place with this athlete. IF I'd heard it was Meta-World-Peace or Pacman Jones, I'd laugh it off and say, probably served him right, but this just isn't a regular problem child.



Amen Brother! SKOL!!

Exactly. raises some questions. Did the off-duty cops identify themselves as police officers? If not and they tried arresting him anyway, then Peterson did absolutely nothing wrong by resisting the arrest. Not only is it legal, but smart. Obviously I can't claim to know him, but seems to me he knows enough than to try and fight a police officer who showed his badge.

If some random dude tries slapping cuffs on me in a bar, you can bet your ass I'm not going to go willingly. No idea if the guy is a legit cop or not. Same as if you get pulled over by an unmarked car. Technically you are not obligated to submit to anything without them first proving they are police officers, at least that's how it works in Canada. Too easy to buy a used Crown Vic and play cop for a day. Same thing with off duty police.

As for the bar manager claiming Peterson was a trouble-customer all night.... it is also entirely possible that being in Texas he's a Cowboys fan. Cowboys fans don't always like Vikings players. He probably wouldn't mind seeing Peterson riding the pine for a few weeks.

Not saying he's not at fault at all, but have to wait and see what actually happens before crucifying or dismissing this.

*edit*

also, saw this in a comment on nfl.com, but a valid point as well, being Texas and all:

Cops would not have jumped Gerhart, Kalil, Allen, Harrison Smith or Kevin Love. Am I white or am I wrong?

I have been staying out of this thread purposely, as most here know that I am a former police officer.

But I just wanted to weigh in and say that this is really not nearly as big of a deal as the media and fans are making it out to be. What do we really have here?

* We have a 27 year old man who from all accounts doesn't drink that much, but was pretty much in the tank - not uncommon.
* We have a cop who was working a second job as security at a nigh club - not uncommon.
* Said young man didn't want to leave when the bar closed - not uncommon.
* Said cop intervened and tried to get him to leave, upsetting said young man. At some point it got physical, whether it was because the cop/security guard put his hands on the young man to escort him out (not uncommon) or because the young man gave the cop/security guard a shove when he was denied (not uncommon).
* Cop tried to subdue the young man - which is entirely in his authority as both an off duty police officer and a security guard - and the young man fought back - not uncommon.
* Eventually an on duty police officer gets involved, and young man continues to fight. Given the heat of the moment, again not uncommon.
* Young man is eventually subdued, and is charged with resesting arrest - most likely stemming from the resistance to the uniformed officer, but it doesn't have to be. One thing to point out here is that the DA chose to charge him with resisting (a misdemeanor) and not assault (a felony). Again, not uncommon - most DAs I have worked with aren't going to prosecute something as little as this.

This isn't anything earth shattering here. Hell, this was probably 50% of my Friday nights when I was on the job. If that young man's name hadn't been Adrian Peterson, this wouldn't have even made the back page. He did something relatively common and minor and the officers and DA reacted in a pretty normal fashion. It doesn't tarnish my view of AP - he is in his 20's and made a fairly minor mistake. Who among us hasn't done that? And I am not going to jump on any anti-cop bandwagon - they seem to have reacted fairly reasonably.

Not a big deal, and not newsworthy IMHO.

the only thing that would make this a big story is.
1. AP got injured during the takedown
2. the video shows AP was the victim of over zealous actions
3. the media blows it WAY WAY up because it's AP

AP's comments on Twitter:


@AdrianPeterson
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” WC

@AdrianPeterson
Thank you for waiting for the facts. Truth will surface.

A difficult customer doesn't mean drunk. They said he had been drinking and was a difficult customer. If he had bottle service and is spending thousands of dollars, he might be difficult in a number of ways( i.e. number of guest, arguing about price bottles etc.) Also, the bar owner has no reason to side with AD. He hired the undercover and could possible leave himself and his establishment open to a lawsuit for any injuries that AD suffered, and for wrongful persecution.

My experience with security guards/cops when the lights come on at a club has never been positive. They are often overzealous and they don't act the same in none black majority bars and clubs, which I also frequent.

Originally Posted by singersp

It probably does lie somewhere in between, but you left out the part where AD shoved the officer first before he jumped on his back.

Now I can see where the police dept will back up the officers story, that goes without saying, just as I can see Vikings fans claiming he was a victim just because it was AD rather than a player such as Loadholt, but the manager of the club also states AD was problematic all night....

So the manager of the club had a problem with Peterson all night, then low and behold Peterson gets arrested by the clubs employees. I see a conflict of interest when the police are on the payroll of the bar.

I also question whether Peterson knew the bouncer was a police officer.

Originally Posted by jmcdon00

So the manager of the club had a problem with Peterson all night, then low and behold Peterson gets arrested by the clubs employees. I see a conflict of interest when the police are on the payroll of the bar.

I also question whether Peterson knew the bouncer was a police officer.

So what your saying is that anyone being tossed out of that bar or arrested in it are probably really innocent, since in those cases as well, there is a conflict of interest?

When you have a customer in your club, probably spending at a minimum hundreds of dollars, I highly doubt the owner/manager wants him tossed out unless he doesn't want his money or his repeat business.

I don't know what the law is down in Texas, but in the states I've lived in, closing time means closing time & everybody needs to leave. Being a star athlete doesn't give you the right to stay in the bar after hours even if your drinking water. If you don't leave on your own, plan on being escorted out by a bouncer. They get paid to do that.

Also, just because the cop/bouncer was on the managers payroll, doesn't mean he has to side with the cop if he did wrong.

If you assaulted someone, what are the chances you're employer would have your back?

Bottom line, had Peterson exited the club when he was first asked, there isn't an incident.

Like NP said, it happens all the time and as I said earlier, it's only a misdemeanor & not that huge of a deal.

There's no big conspiracy here by the cops targeting AD, nor was he targeted by the manager because he plays for the Vikings & the manager happens to be a Texans or Cowboys fan.

It's also not uncommon for a star athlete who's been drinking to think he deserves some sort of extra entitlement.

Originally Posted by singersp

So what your saying is that anyone being tossed out of that bar or arrested in it are probably really innocent, since in those cases as well, there is a conflict of interest?

Exactly.

Simply nothing good can come from commenting on this until the facts come out. That's my comment.

Originally Posted by MaxVike

Simply nothing good can come from commenting on this ntile the facts come out. That's my comment.

+1, hard to resist though.