Tag: crime

Not a care in the world

There are no new developments in the Pacman Jones strip club shooting but there are a couple stories in the press related to the incident where a club bouncer was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down.

First, criminal defense lawyers not associated with the case are saying that unless there is damning video evidence, it’s going to be next to impossible to prove that Jones had anything to do with the incident. First the police have to find the shooter, then they have to link him to Jones.

If Pacman was with this individual and maybe knew he carried a weapon from time to time but never told him to go back to the vehicle to get a weapon and … had no feelings that (the shooting) was going to happen, then just because he might have been with him doesn’t make him criminally responsible for anything.

If he (Jones) knows what the other person is up to and encourages or incites another person to go back in there and shoot and cause that man to be paralyzed, then he is in serious trouble. That is in both criminal and civil, but the only problem with criminal is how are you going to prove that?

Basically, even if Jones knew the shooter and was involved it would be impossible to implicate Jones unless the shooter fingers Jones and we get the feeling that some cash in a duffle bag would solve that little problem.

Meanwhile, Roger Goodell is sick of the off-the-field incidents and so are other players. They want Goodell to crack down on chronic troublemakers. Gene Upshaw agrees:

They don’t want to be painted with the same brush as these guys [that are getting into trouble]. They want players held accountable for their actions and their decisions, just like they are with the drug policy. They want penalties for guys who continually put themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. They feel a guy should only have so many chances. They want three strikes and you’re out.

There could be some sort of policy in place by as early as Junes, although that would not likely affect Jones retroactively.

And finally, a former NYC cop living in Las Vegas and friend of the bouncer who was shot says that the Las Vegas police department is incompetent and has questions about the way they handled the incident.

We get the feeling nothing is going to happen to Pac Man Jones (although we should assume innocence here) until his next run in with the law at a strip club at 4 a.m.

Links:

[Tennessean]: If Pacman broke law, proving it may be tough
[Philly.com]: Owners, players want to bust bad guys

[SC]: Strip club owner says Pacman Jones knew shooter

Photo from Sportsline

Adam “Pacman” Jones, who brought you such hits as “Chickenheads to the left, high class hos to the right” and “She stole my wallet!“, has released a new single titled, “That stripper took my money”.

His lawyer claims that Pacman was there but “nobody with him had a gun or fired a gun or was involved in any criminal activity.” However, Robert Susnar, co-owner of the club says that Pacman is lying and that he was sitting next to the shooter and came and left with him. According to Susnar, the trouble started after 4 a.m.

Jones had tossed hundreds of $1 bills on the stripper stage, an action known in street slang as “making it rain.” When one of the strippers started grabbing the money without Jones’ permission, he got angry, grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the stage, Susnar said.

That’s when security guard Aaron Cudworth, a mixed-martial artist with professional fighting experience, intervened and stopped the assault, he said.

“At that point, Pacman said, ‘I’m going to kill you,'” Susnar said.

A melee ensued as Cudworth scuffled with Jones and members of his entourage, Susnar said.

Order was eventually restored, and everyone was moved outside. That’s when the gunman opened fire toward the front door of the club, hitting Cudworth, security guard Tom Urbanski and a female customer.

According to Jones’ lawyer the commotion had nothing to do with Pacman allegedly slamming a stripper’s head into the stage and happened because Jones threw a bunch of money on stage and all the hos onstage and off started a wild dive for the bills. (We added in the hos part.) Eventually the surveillance tapes will tell the truth. It might be a very long long offseason for Jones.

The saddest part of this story is the security guard who started working there only two weeks before getting shot. He was moonlighting to put his wife through law school. Susnar said, “What does he get for a hard day’s work? A bullet in the spine because of a jackass athlete. It’s the most tragic thing I can imagine.”

Links:

[Las Vegas Review Journal]: Police looking at NFL player’s friend in strip club shooting