Maurice Clarett arrested after dramatic highway chase.
Ever since Clarett was denied the opportunity to play in the NFL after only one year of college, things have just seemed to spiral downward for him. Here is a rough timeline:
- Plays and starts his freshman year for OSU, playing very well and winning a national championship.
- The following year he was charged for filing a false police report claiming that more than $10,000 in clothing, CDs, cash and stereo equipment were stolen from a car he borrowed from a dealership. OSU suspended him for the upcoming season.
- He then declared for the draft, challenging the NFL’s rule that one must wait 3 years after graduating from High School
- Long story short, his challenge was turned down. He was then forced to sit out the 2004 season and wait for the 2005 draft.
- Had a poor showing at the NFL Combine, was out of shape and ran slow. Many expected him to be a late round choice or an undrafted free agent.
- The Broncos pulled a huge surprise and drafted him in the 3rd round. Clarett showed up to camp overweight, struggled with minor injuries, and reportedly clashed with coaches and was caught drinking in the weight room. He was cut from the team and was not claimed by any other team.
- January 1, 2006. Clarett allegedly robbed two people at gunpoint. He turned himself in and was then released on $50,000 bond. In February he plead not guilty to aggravated-robbery charges.
- July 26, 2006. Clarett fires his lawyers.
- And now to last nights events. I quote from his Wikipedia page:
In the early morning hours of August 9, 2006, Clarett was arrested in Columbus, Ohio after he made an illegal U-turn and led the police on a chase in his sports utility vehicle. After driving over a police-mounted spike strip, the chase ended in a nearby restaurant parking lot. According to a police spokesman, the officers discovered a loaded AK-47 assault rifle and three other loaded pistols in his vehicle along with an open bottle of Grey Goose vodka. The officers resorted to using mace to subdue Clarett after a stun-gun proved ineffective because Mr. Clarett was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Early reports suggest that Clarett intended to use a witness list obtained by his lawyers to track down and threaten or eliminate witnesses involved in his ongoing robbery charges.
Somewhere around the time he got cut from the Broncos, this story went from being about an athlete with a ridiculous sense of entitlement trying to coast his way through life to a story of a seriously disturbed and lost young man that is a danger to society and to himself. This story really makes me sad. Clarett was a kid who didn’t listen to the people who could help him along in life, instead choosing to listen to those sycophants that just wanted a ride on the prospective money train.
It is painfully obvious that Maurice needs help. Emotional help, mental help, and support from people who actually care about him. I fear that he won’t get it, or worse will have it offered to him and will refuse it. I don’t see any possible way this story is going to end well.
Ultimately, Clarett is and was responsible for the path his life has taken. I’m not here to make excuses for him. I do wonder, however, just how much the special treatment he most assuredly received as a star athlete damaged his perspective on life.
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