Police report: Cedric Benson 'cocky' and 'insulting'
TEXAS | Bears running back also at times 'crying,' 'cooperative'
Chicago Bear Cedric Benson appeared drunk when an officer stopped him while boating last weekend, with bloodshot eyes, a "strong" alcohol odor and slurred speech, a police report said.
Sgt. Leonard Snyder, who pepper-sprayed and arrested Benson on Lake Travis near Austin, Texas, said he surmised Benson was intoxicated because he was "combative," "cocky," "insulting," and used "profanity." At times, he was "crying" and "cooperative," Snyder wrote.
(Sun-Times/AP files)
After failing sobriety tests administered by Snyder, an officer with the Lower Colorado River Authority, Benson refused to come ashore for more tests and "stood up from the position where I had him seated and suggested I could not tell him what to do," the report said.
After informing him he was under arrest and about to be handcuffed, "I touched his body in an attempt to direct him and he presented himself in a very hostile way,'' Snyder wrote. "Benson is a very muscular person and easily capable of overpowering me. As I had exhausted all attempts to gain control of Benson, and been met with resistance and what I perceived as a threat, I administered pepper spray into Benson's face to gain control."
Snyder stopped Benson's 30-foot Cobalt boat Saturday night for a safety inspection, according to the report.
Benson said he was cooperative and sober, that he was manhandled, and that he gets stopped every time his boat goes out.
Benson's attorney, Brian Carney, likened the treatment of Benson to waterboarding, after authorities sprayed his face to cleanse him of pepper spray.
"As much as he would like to feel special, it's not just Cedric Benson. People get stopped all the time," said Roger Wade of the Travis County Sheriff's Office, called to assist in the arrest.
The popular lake has steep underwater drops and has already had four drownings this year, Wade said.
Benson is facing misdemeanor charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest.