Troubled waters
TEXAS | Bears running back pepper-sprayed after allegedly resisting police
Bears running back Cedric Benson was pepper-sprayed and charged with drunken boating and resisting arrest in Texas -- but he denies the charges, saying police roughed him up for no reason.
A former Texas Longhorn, Benson was arrested Saturday night after he turned "combative" and "argumentative" during a safety check on his boat on Lake Travis, said Robbie Searcy of the Lower Colorado River Authority, which patrols the lake about 20 miles from Austin in Texas' pricey Hill Country.
(Tom Curze/Sun-Times/Courtesy)
Benson on drunk boating charges: 'I wasn't drunk'
Benson refused a breath test but failed a sobriety test designed for boaters, according to the LCRA. The officer wanted to bring him ashore for more tests, but Benson refused.
But Benson told the Chicago Sun-Times he was not drunk and did not resist arrest.
"I was not intoxicated. There was alcohol on the boat, and others were enjoying themselves, but I wasn't drunk," he said.
But according to the LCRA, an officer asked Benson, owner-operator of the boat, to do a "float" sobriety test. Detainees may be asked to follow an object with their eyes, do the alphabet and count down with their fingers. An officer said Benson failed. Authorities wanted to bring Benson ashore for more tests, the LCRA said.
Benson refused to put on a life jacket -- a requirement on LCRA boats -- and "presented himself as a threat to the officer and argued about whether or not he would be taken to land," authorities said.
The officer arrested Benson, who kept arguing and "continued to present himself as a threat," the LCRA said. The officer then pepper-sprayed him.
Benson tells a much different story: "Even after they pepper-sprayed me, I have no idea why they did that. I was cooperative. I asked them several times why they did that, and they didn't give me an answer."
Once the boat docked, Benson refused to leave the LCRA boat, authorities said. An LCRA officer and Travis County sheriff's deputies were "basically carrying/dragging him" to a car for transport to jail, the release said.
Again Benson gave a different account: "They kicked my feet out from under me and slammed my face down. They had a hose and were running it over my face. They were choking me and stuff, not with their hands but with the hose in my face. I couldn't breathe. I don't know if they did that because of the pepper spray, but I didn't ask them to put the hose in my face."
Benson said he declined a breath test once in custody on the advice of his lawyer, Brian Carney.
Benson was held at Travis County Jail from about 11:30 p.m. Saturday to 3:30 a.m. Sunday. He was released on $14,500 bond.
His future with the team has been uncertain since he fractured his left leg in November, requiring a plate and screws to be inserted to stabilize the leg and ankle. The Bears addressed the position by drafting Tulane's Matt Forte in the second round last month.
"Very disappointed,'' coach Lovie Smith said about Benson on Sunday at Halas Hall. "You try to wait and get as much information before you make a lot of comments about it, and that's what I am going to do. We're always disappointed when we have someone that we're talking about being in trouble with the law.''
The Bears got only 1,593 yards and 10 touchdowns in three seasons to show for the $13.8 million invested in Benson.
Benson is charged with boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, misdemeanors punishable by up to six months in jail.
