Bengals RB Cedric Benson arrested for bar brawl
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Bar employee Bryan White told police that once outside, Benson complained that "all these white boys are ganging up on me and kicking me out," then punched him in the face...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson was arrested Tuesday and charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching a bar employee in the face nearly a month ago.
Benson was booked into the Travis County jail where he later posted bail and was released, authorities said.
According to the Austin police arrest affidavit, Benson was at Annie’s West bar in the Sixth Street entertainment district on May 30 when he got into an altercation with another patron that left him spitting blood from a cut lip. After staff intervened, witnesses told police Benson shoved a bar worker and was verbally abusive. After being asked to leave, Benson was escorted to the door.
Bar employee Bryan White told police that once outside, Benson complained that “all these white boys are ganging up on me and kicking me out,” then punched White in the face.
Benson’s attorney, Sam Bassett, said his client “looks forward to telling his side of the story at the appropriate time.”
“Though he does not entirely agree with the version of facts recited in the court filings,” Bassett said, “he does not wish to make his comments public at this time.”
“Mr. Benson has always been willing to cooperate with the Austin Police Department to tell his version of what happened so long as he could have a lawyer present,” he said. “The Austin Police Department decided to go forward with obtaining a warrant without obtaining Mr. Benson’s side of the story.”
The arrest is just the latest brush with the law for Benson.
In 2008, he was arrested twice in a month on alcohol charges that were later dropped. While in college at the University of Texas, he was suspended for a game and pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal trespassing for forcing his way into an apartment to find a television he said was stolen from him.
Drafted in the first round by the Bears in 2005, Benson’s legal troubles prompted Chicago to cut him in 2008. He signed as a free agent with the Bengals and led the team with a career-high 1,251 yards and six touchdowns in 2009.
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