Maurice Clarett: Walking Disaster
Former OSU tailback Maurice Clarett has given himself quite a reputation and it only seems to get worse as time goes on. Let me summarize it all for you…
- Helped OSU win the national championship in 2002 after the team went 14-0. He scored 18 touchdowns.
- Yelled at his position coach in 2002. In the same year, he got mad at OSU officials for not allowing him to fly home for a friend’s funeral and said these officials lied when they said he hadn’t filled out the proper paperwork.
- In July 2003, he was accused of getting preferential treatment from a professor, but there was never any supporting evidence found.
- He filed a false police report in September 2003 saying that he had $10,000 worth of CDs and other equipment stolen from his car. OSU then dismissed him from the team.
- The NFL requires you to be 3 years out of high school before you can be drafted. So Clarett decided to sue so he could participate in the 2004 NFL draft. He lost.
- The Denver Broncos actually drafted him 101st overall in the 2005 draft. He showed up in preseason about 20 pounds overweight (think Keith Tkachuk) and had even been drinking in the locker room. Somehow, the Broncos decided to still sign this guy to a four year contract. However in late August, he was released on waivers. No one picked him up and he was free to sign a new contract elsewhere, but no one was interested.
- Accused of robbery on New Year’s 2006 with a .45 caliber gun. He was released on a $50,000 bond. Indicted on February 10th. Pled not guilty on the 22nd. Posted $20,000 bail.
So now that I’ve caught you up, here’s what happened on August 9th, 2006…
- The police noticed an SUV making an illegal U-turn and driving erratically. The police chase didn’t end until police spikes punctured the SUV tires on the highway. The pursuit took 10 minutes with 4 police cars and a helicopter.
- It doesn’t end there. It took awhile for the police to subdue Clarett. The police’s stun guns wouldn’t work because Clarett was wearing a bulletproof vest. It wasn’t until the officers used pepper spray that they could get the former OSU tailback into handcuffs. He continued to struggle and even spat on the officers (so they put a cloth mask over his mouth). He was struck with a flashlight and restrained with hobble straps at the ankle.
- So what was inside his SUV that caused the judge to make the bond $5 million? Well…4 loaded guns including an AK-47. He also had some vodka and a hatchet. I certainly would not want to be the person that the weapons were intended for.
Prosecutors initially asked the judge to hold Clarett without bond, in part because he had been driving just a few blocks from the home of a woman scheduled to testify against him in his robbery trial, which starts Monday.
In that case, witnesses said Clarett flashed a gun and robbed them of a cell phone behind a Columbus nightclub earlier this year.
- His girlfriend recently gave birth to his premature daughter. He was also expected to play for the Mahoning Valley Hitmen of the Eastern Indoor Football League in January.
I’m just curious as to how you go from being a star tailback on the national champion team after scoring the game winning touchdown to someone with this much legal and personal trouble.
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August 11th, 2006 at 10:24 am
[…] Maurice Clarett is in trouble with the law again. If you haven’t heard by now, he was arrested and maced while trying to elude police. He was caught with enough weapons in his car to force a ceasefire in the Middle East. This arrest is going to carry some serious jailtime. Behind the Jersey has a great breakdown of all of Clarett’s previous missteps with the law. Tom Friend of ESPN.com has a fascinating read about Clarett’s phone call to him just hours before his joyride. Clarett has so many arrests now that the Bengals and Trailblazers may even be leery of signing him. Well the Trailblazers at least, the Bengals need to boost the crime totals at the running back position. It’s running far behind most other positions in the Yards per Arrest category. […]