Posted on 05/07/2008 8:56:55 AM PDT by cdbull23
A woman who was a passenger in Cedric Benson's boat when he was pepper-sprayed and arrested Saturday night said the Chicago Bears running back did not seem intoxicated and did not resist arrest, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Elizabeth Cartwright, 22, a senior at the University of Texas and a friend of Benson, said she called her father and asked him to call police about the way Benson was treated by officers of the Lower Colorado River Authority, which patrols Lake Travis, a man-made lake northwest of Austin, Texas.
"I called my dad and told him, 'Call 911, my black friend is getting beaten up by police on Lake Travis,'" Cartwright recalled, according to the Tribune. "It's more what I heard than what I saw. I have never heard or seen Cedric that scared."
According to the police report, Benson had bloodshot eyes, a "strong" alcohol odor and slurred speech when his boat was stopped by authorities on Saturday.
Benson has denied he was intoxicated or that he resisted law enforcement and will fight the charges against him.
Cartwright said she is willing to present her account of events as evidence. She also said her fiance took photographs of the incident that help back up her claims.
According to the Tribune, Cartwright said she had had one drink and Benson had consumed two when the party of about 15 people decided to head back to shore at about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday to get dinner. About that time, a patrol boat approached to conduct a random check, she said.
According to Cartwright, it was the sixth time that a patrol had stopped Benson's boat on Lake Travis in as many outings this year.
Cartwright said after the boat passed the safety checkup, Benson was asked to board the LCRA craft for a sobriety test. As an officer led Benson to the LCRA boat for the test, the second officer left behind on Benson's boat assured his mother, Jackie Benson, that her son would be fine, Cartwright said, according to the report.
"I know Cedric and I don't think he was drunk," Cartwright said, according to the Tribune.
A few minutes later, Cartwright said she heard Benson begin to scream after the officer pepper-sprayed him, according to the report. By the time Benson was in handcuffs, he was screaming, "Please stop, Mom, make them please stop," she said.
According to the report, Cartwright's father, Jeff, called 911 at his daughter's insistence. Unaware she was calling about Benson, he told the dispatcher that police "were beating up a black kid on Lake Travis."
A Travis County spokesman wouldn't confirm or deny Tuesday night that a 911 call had been placed regarding the incident, according to the Tribune.
Benson and Cartwright's accounts differ from the police account of the incident.
According to the police report, Sgt. Leonard Snyder, who sprayed and arrested Benson, said he believed Benson was intoxicated because he was "combative," "cocky," "insulting" and used "profanity," but at other times was "crying" and "cooperative."
After failing sobriety tests applied by Snyder, who works with the Lower Colorado River Authority, Snyder wrote that Benson refused to come ashore for additional tests and "stood up from the position where I had him seated and suggested I could not tell him what to do."
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
I'll wait for this to play out. Comments?
This is the first I have heard of this incident. There are a couple of things I could add: #1-It seems a little much to me that these same people have been stopped by LCRA officers all 6 times they have been out on the lake this year, and #2--there are far too many boating deaths on Lake Travis, probably about 90 or more percent of which are because of drinking and boating. We've already had several deaths this year, and it's just now May.
“Comments?”
My guess is he was drunk as was the little daddy’s girl.
I’m sure they took the party boat out just long enough to have ONE drink. I know in my experiecne, 22-year-old party girls on boats NEVER drink more than one.
Later on she says, “I know him and I DON’T THINK he was drunk.” Well, she had stated previously that he only has ONE drink, as if she was keeping track. She seemed to back off a bit there.
Oh, yeah. Pepper spray him.
Heck, Taze hims a couple of times. Kick him in the head and shoot him, to boot.
D@mn wise-mouth kid.
Throw being a black man in there as well and you might as well start seasoning your food with pepper spray.
One encounter with police and you are willing to damn them all. Textbook definition of ignorant bigot. A black guy mugged me once. I guess by your logic they are all thieves.
Sorry for your trouble but it is the weak and ignorant who use singular events like that as an excuse to hold prejudices against large numbers of people..
I call it the Freeper Bowl.
My apologies. I can tell from the other posts this was supposed to be a “jack-booted” Nazi SS cop abuses innocent bunny-petting, rainbow painting humanitarian.
So, she referred to this man as her "Black friend" to her father when asking for his help? Why? Perhaps looking for some notoriety for herself?
Anyone heard from Cap'n Crunch lately? He's the cop here who gave himself that name because that's the sound he likes to hear. That being the sound of bones breaking on the people he arrests.
Anyone else find that wording strange?
Yeah, the police need another civil rights law suit
like a nail in the hand.
Cops always guilty?
Yes. “Black friend”?
I knew a guy who had the letters E-A-T-M-E on his four fingers on his left hand. Every traffic stop ended in him spending a night in jail. If he handed the cop his papers with his left hand, the cop would see the letters and drag him to jail. If he tried to use his right hand to hand the cop his papers, the cop would drag him out of the car because he was hiding something with such a strange reach.
Eventually he had the letters turned into dopey designs and his life during a traffic stop became more peaceful.
That’s a big juicy lure that you threw out there. This fish ain’t biting.
Bingo! It sound like something my ever-so-liberal Obama-loving 21 y/o niece would say.
Since you’re on location, could you enlighten me as to the geography? Is Travis Lake on the Pedernales, or the Colorado? If the former, where the heck is the Lower Colorado River? (The only one I’m aware of is on the California/Arizona border)
I’m sure they took the party boat out just long enough to have ONE drink. I know in my experiecne, 22-year-old party girls on boats NEVER drink more than one.
You follow this comment up with the following:
One encounter with police and you are willing to damn them all. Textbook definition of ignorant bigot. A black guy mugged me once. I guess by your logic they are all thieves.
I guess by your logic any woman that rides on a party boat is a party girl and a drunk.
Many police are nothing more than former teenage criminals with a badge and on a power trip. Benson gets the benefit of the doubt with me.
Do you read any of the articles here?
this is not a thread hijack
Minority status is definitely a luxury these days.
No kidding. I’m 6’4” and 250#. I’ve been known to cause weenies to “feel” threatened by just entering a room. If it wasn’t for my extreme good looks and engaging personality I too would have developed a taste for large Scoville scale capsicum and high intensity electric stimulation long ago.
It used to be I only had to worry about the liquored up little guy looking for a fight...
But at least you have humility to fall back on........
And when I'm ever stopped by the police, that's exactly what I assume. I've never been pepper sprayed.
Why someone would be combative, use profanity, and refuse to cooperate -- and not expect a response -- is beyond me.
Yeah, you're right. This kind of stuff NEVER happens.
Best way to prevent drowning deaths - tase the boaters and/or remove them from the lake forcibly.
Yeah, that was funny sh*t. Thanks for posting it.
There is a Colorado River in TX that empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Not the same as the one in AZ.
“Please stop, Mom, make them please stop,” she said
LOL. Big bad football player.
Every drunk I have every seen has a pat answer to how many drinks have you had. The answer is always 2. Also, intoxicated people are not a very good judge if they are intoxicated.
Cartwright recalled, according to the Tribune. "It's more what I heard than what I saw. I have never heard or seen Cedric that scared."
Apparently ms Cartwright has never seen Cedric try to execute a running play for Da Bears. 'Deer In The Headlights' would be putting it mildly.
Benson sucks. Cut him now and eat any salary loss.
How sad for you.
“Many police are nothing more than former teenage criminals with a badge and on a power trip”
I agree. At least if a criminal assaults you, there is some recourse. When then cops get out of control, there is not much you can do.
I’m with you. Cops no longer get my immediate support.
Someone is lying about that too. The other day, his lawyer said Benson had been stopped BOTH times he had been on the lake this year. Now it is up to six? Something stinks, and it ain't the dead fish in Travis.
Hey Arrowhead,
Ole Cedric was pissed none of the LCRA water cops recognized him as “the Great Cedric Benson” of Longhorn fame! Of course, none of them would have recognized him as a Chicago Bears player either, because he is terrible.
Having had dealings with the LCRA water cops on LBJ, I am inclined to at least give Benson the benefit of the doubt on this one!
Actually, lower the weight to 145 lbs. That's how much the 21 year old White male in St. Paul (next to Mpls) weighed when they tased him to death the other day. They prevented him from committing suicide though.
“It’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way...”
But, I manage.
You may be right about that. We’ve stayed off the lakes the past few years. I don’t like it when there are 8 - 10 of those cigarette boats racing on their “poker runs”. They have no respect for other craft and many times they can’t see when the bow is up during acceleration.
We’ve seen many close calls in our area. Also, about every other weekend, there are several boats that missed the main channel and are up on the shore. I have a JetSki that I need to get running again and then sell it. I believe in the saying: “A boat is a hole in the water you keep pouring money into.”
No one has ever been tased to death.
He refused to leave the officer's boat and had to be dragged to a car to be taken to the Travis County jail, the authority said.
The story conveniently omitted the "dragged to a car" portion. Maybe he wasn't so cooperative after all.
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