Did Police Target Patriots CB Alfonzo Dennard Before Arrest?

[Joker]

Hear Hear! There are way too many rouge cops in this country, not that I want to make this the topic of this thread.

maybe the cops in SF wear rouge, but the rest of the country suffers from ROGUE cops taking the law into their own hands or, even worse, using their badges to shield their criminal activities...

Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

you just never know these days...

 

[supafly]

maybe the cops in SF wear rouge, but the rest of the country suffers from ROGUE cops taking the law into their own hands or, even worse, using their badges to shield their criminal activities...

Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

you just never know these days...

I don't think any of us would be remotely surprised to find out that the cops there have it in for him.

Unfortunately that tends to happen when you assualt one of the boys in blue. You'll need to walk a pretty damn straight line from there on out, and there will definitely be some who "look" for things instead of letting them come to them as they should.

I'm not saying that I think that's the way most cops are, b/c they aren't; but who here would be surprised to find out that the Lincoln cops took advantage of him a little bit?

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I don't think any of us would be remotely surprised to find out that the cops there have it in for him.

Unfortunately that tends to happen when you assualt one of the boys in blue. You'll need to walk a pretty damn straight line from there on out, and there will definitely be some who "look" for things instead of letting them come to them as they should.

I'm not saying that I think that's the way most cops are, b/c they aren't; but who here would be surprised to find out that the Lincoln cops took advantage of him a little bit?

I agree completely with the idea that most cops aren't. I suspect a majority of them deep down have a sense of fair play, have a sense they want to treat people professionally (but not all and that is a certainty). However, what most cops definitely are is part of the blue wall of silence. It's going to take one serious abuse of power and one seriously tenuous situation before a cop speaks out on abuse of power by another cop(s). By extension this allows things like 'targeting', among other things, to go largely unchecked.
There is very little doubt in my mind that multiple police departments in Nebraska 'wanted' Dennard. You do not punch a police officer and not have your name become prominent in their minds if not quietly spoken of....especially a well known individual that gets a punishment many might consider a slap on the wrist. And there is also no doubt in my mind some cops will play footloose with 'probable cause' and what they put on their report to justify something that was shaky to begin with.

With that said, does this mean Dennard was pulled over without real probable cause or unfairly treated after the stop? No. Whether they just happened to come upon him on the highway, discovered Dennard was at place X and figured he be leaving around closing, or license plate tracking that police departments are now using tipped off what road he drives at what time (fyi, police know your patterns of driving/locations from daily random scans of license plates), IF he was guilty of DUI and presented probable cause, he can complain all he wants about they had it in for him. It's a lot of hot air as far as I'm concerned.
With that said, as I have posted before, I have a bit more skepticism with this one because he had punched a cop as well as the interaction after the stop seems to have something to raise an eyebrow about (passing the breath test but being asked to try again twice).

 

[Rob0729]

With all due respect Rob, as explained in detail multiple times now--

the VOP arraignment took place last week and the next step in the hearing is scheduled for 8/27, which is the usual standard for VOP cases in Nebraska.

The arraignment took place....and the next step was scheduled for the usual approx. 30 days later period. That is standard procedure in that state. First there is an arraignment (which already happened last week), and then there is the next step which is normally scheduled for approx. 30 days later, which was scheduled per the usual standard.

There was nothing "pushed back." Not sure why you keep defying this fact? In that particular state they have a process which entails multiple steps, but there certainly wasn't anything "pushed back" on any form whatsoever. Everything went totally scheduled. The one and only difference was that Dennard's attorneys asked to move the arraignment of VOP hearing up a week, so that he wouldn't miss another day of TC on July 31st. By moving the first step up a week they were able to have it before camp started. Refusing to believe me is one thing, but here's a quote from the Herald from 4 days ago to help convince you:

"Yesterday’s court appearance didn’t change the probation revocation timetable too much. If Dennard arrived as scheduled next Wednesday, he was still expected to get his hearing at the end of August or perhaps the beginning of September." - See more at: Alfonzo Dennard back in court in Neb. | Boston Herald

If anything, the fact that the prosecution wasn't even ready to arraign him almost a week early, yet still managed to give a compelling argument and actually ended up successful in their arraignment proceedings should tell you that they certainly have a case.

The only question is whether or not Dennard's attorneys can get the next step on 8/27 postponed all the way until after the season, which will be extremely difficult to do. That's why the main concern isn't necessarily what the punishment will be--but when it occurs, since it's almost guaranteed to happen at some point during the season. Of course Dennard's attorneys will be trying like hell to get a couple of postponements, but then the question arises as to "why" they weren't successful last week if it's going to be that simple? The only thing we can do is hope.

You are assuming a lot and I am assuming a lot. I totally disagree with your assessment that the prosecution acting fast means they have a strong case against Dennard. They clearly don't. They have no proof Dennard was above the legal limit. We have the police report. There is not going to be some kind of bombshell evidence introduced in this case. With no proof of Dennard being intoxicated, the case is relatively weak at best. This is a he said/he said case.

Dennard based on the rules of DUI in his state has little chance of winning the suspicion of DUI charge itself. But in terms of the hearing for his probation, the prosecution's case against Dennard is paper thin to prove he was driving drunk. There is zero evidence he was drunk and it will be only the statements of the officers at the scene for the entire state's case.

You keep saying that it looks like the prosecution have a strong case against Dennard, but I still don't see how they can. They can't even prove he was drunk. So unless there is a police cam of his clearly inebriated, I think reality is the exact opposite and that their case Dennard is clearly weak. If Dennard's account of the story is even remotely true, he was at worst barely over the legal limit and wouldn't even be showing any overt signs of being inebriated. Whether Dennard is guilty or not, I think the case against him for the probation hearing is pretty weak to earn him much more than a slap on the wrist.

And I read somewhere that they postponed the case for Dennard because the prosecution asked for a continuance to the end of August. Dennard wanted to proceed right away and actually asked for the hearing to proceed quickly. The prosecution pushed back for a later date. I could be wrong about this though. I can't find the article now.

BTW, to your other post (not directed to me) about most cops aren't bad people. I agree, but like in all walks of life there are good cops and bad cops. Some cops are very good and moral people and there are others who are just plain rotten to the core. But it no different than people on Wall Street or anywhere else.