Bull’s-eye on Benson boat?
Bear’s lawyer wants documents, calls frequent stops ‘unusual’
Bears running back Cedric Benson had been stopped ‘‘several times’’ aboard his boat in Texas before last weekend’s arrest but never had been charged with a violation, his attorney said Friday.
Attorney Sam Bassett said he sent a letter to Texas authorities to preserve any documents related to previous stops ‘‘to get a picture of what’s going on.’’ Bassett said he couldn’t pinpoint the number of contacts Benson had had with authorities but called the frequency ‘‘not illegal but unusual.’’
(NBC5)
Benson didn’t say he felt he was being discriminated against because of the number of stops, Bassett said, but he ‘‘knew the drill’’ when he was stopped by an officer last weekend on Lake Travis near Austin, Texas.
‘‘He knew this is what they’re going to ask for: life jackets, fire extinguishers... ,’’ Bassett said.
Elizabeth Cartwright, a friend of Benson who was on the boat, told the Austin American-Statesman that she and her fiance, former Texas linebacker Aaron Harris, have been on Benson’s boat six times when it was pulled over for safety checks by lake authorities. Benson reportedly has owned the Cobalt speedboat for 18 months.
Robbie Searcy, a spokeswoman for the Lower Colorado River Authority, said the agency does not keep records of stops that do not result in citations or arrests. But she said the agency aggressively monitors boating on the lake, where 22 people have been killed in the last three years. She said the LCRA made 800 stops of boaters in 2007.
Benson is facing misdemeanor charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest.
