Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Another Pacer arrested

Another Pacer has landed in legal hot water on Tuesday with the arrest of forward Shawne Williams. Williams, the Pacers' first-round draft pick last year, was charged with possession of marijuana, driving without a license, driving with an expired license plate and failure to signal a lane change.

Williams was driving an SUV, which was carrying two other men, when it was pulled over for changing lanes without signaling. When Williams rolled down the driver's side window, the officer detected a strong odor of marijuana, while another officer later found a smoldering cigar-sized marijuana cigarette in the vehicle's ash tray.

Like any good posse should do, Williams' front seat passenger said the marijuana was his while Williams denied knowledge of the marijuana even being in his car. The cops said that Williams had no driver's license and instead handed the officer a Tennessee identification card. He said the SUV's license plate had expired in July. The SUV's back seat passenger was arrested on charges of carrying a gun without a license and theft, as the 9 mm handgun had been reported preciously stolen.

Pacers president Larry Bird quickly declared that the team was "extremely disappointed" by Williams' arrest, the third time in less than a year that players have been charged by police.

Call me naive, but playing in Indiana where white boys and corn fields rule, what else is there for a brotha to do other than tangle with the law? With the Pacers history of dealing guys with legal trouble (mascot excluded), it is only a matter of time before Williams is shipped off to the West coast to join Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson. With the NBA draft only 2 rounds long, they're going to run out of players at this rate. I hope Bird has Big Country's number in his roladex.

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