July 10, 2007, - 2:37 pm
Jury to Iverson: If You Don’t Control Your Posse Thugs, You Must Pay (But Only a Little)
By
Three cheers to a federal jury in Washington, DC, which awarded $260,000 to one of two men who sued NBA star and , after they were beaten by his entourage at a nightclub in 2005.
(For those who think it’s a racist verdict, not so fast. Marlin Godfrey, Iverson’s victim, who received the jury award is also Black.)
Still, $260,000–$250,000 of which was punitive damages–is too small. It should have been ten times that. For the multi-gazillionaire Iverson, it has the impact of an ant urinating on the sidewalk. He barely notices. It’s well past time that America–not just juries–sent a loud message to pro athletes that their posse thug mentality and behavior will no longer be tolerated.
Said Jury foreman Dave Peterson: “there was no question” that Iverson was negligent in failing to control [bodyguard Jason] Kane that night.
For too long, pro athletes and their posses have gotten away with murder (in the case of NFL star Ray Lewis) and other sickening results of the thuggery of themselves and their “posse” entourages. NFL star “Pacman” Jones’ victim, Tom Urbanski, is permanently paralyzed and must go to the bathroom through a catheter for the rest of his life, all because Jones wanted to see what would happen at a strip club if he threw tens of thousands of dollars in cash on the floor. His friends fired shots when people ran to pick up the money. (Urbanski was moonlighting as a bouncer at the Vegas strip club, saving enough money to put his wife through law school.)
It’s time for America to say, “Enough Is Enough.” But since they won’t even say it to terrorists, I don’t hold my breath for them to send a similar message to the Iversons, Lewises, and Joneses of the sports world.
If Allen Iverson–who has a history of violence and crime–is really “the Answer,” I have to wonder what the heck the question was.
Read some of my previous work on .
Tags: Allen Iverson, America, bodyguard, catheter, chief, Dave Peterson, DC, Debbie Schlussel Three, foreman, Jason, law school, Marlin Godfrey, National Basketball Association, National Football League, NBA, NFL, Ray Lewis, Said Jury, sports world, Tom Urbanski, USD, Vegas strip club, Washington
Is that a tatoo of a crescent moon and star on his neck?
proudnavybrat on July 10, 2007 at 3:33 pm