The case of Donte Stallworth and his drunk driving accident in March has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in the sports world. The other big issues being the playing status of Michael Vick and the steroid witch hunt. In catching the full interview done by E:60 hosted by Michael Smith, I must say the whole thing was top notch. The is the first time I've caught longer than five minutes worth of E:60 in quite some time and this was definitely worth the viewing.
Every viewer was looking for the up close and personal reaction of Stallworth while you heard his side of the story on this night to regret. The element that made this interview so intriguing was seeing the reaction given by Stallworth during each gut-wrenching questions brought about the horrific night. Stallworth seemed uncomfortable at best when answering every question fired at him by Michael Smith taking quite a bit of time to respond genuinely. I would think most people were looking to see Stallworth maybe get highly emotional, but he seemed to keep his emotions in check while doing this interview.
What really gets lost in this whole case was the actual story of what happened on this night? Most people had heard that Stallworth blood-alcohol level was way above (0.12) that of the legal limit in Florida. (0.08) It was just another case of a hot shot athlete thinking he was above the law blowing off rules that are meant to be taken seriousily. Stallworth had made a huge mistake. The part of the story that most people including myself didn't hear was that fact that the pedestrian killed (Reyes) had stepped out onto the crosswalk while Stallworth was driving. The pedestrian was somewhat himself breaking the law by running across the street in traffic. The police authorities recovered a tape of the scene unfolding at the traffic light and it did show the pedestrian in the crosswalk barely giving the driver any time to react. This still didn't give Stallworth the benefit of the doubt, but it showed he was telling the truth about that element on the accident.
Then the travesty came. Stallworth was released on July 10th of this year serving only 24 days of his 30-day sentence and he settled outside of court with the victims family for undisclosed amount. Stallworth was handed 1,000 hours of community service, 2 years of house arrest, and 8 years of probation. He also received a life-time ban of his Florida drivers license. Stallworth meet with Roger Goodell last week about a possible reinstatement to football after receiving a indefinite suspension on June 18th. Stallworth has been granted the right to train during house arrest for football related activities.
Most people were calling for blood once they heard that Stallworth had gotten off "easy" with getting only 24 days total of a jail sentence in committing this crime. How could this athlete be given this opportunity of getting off scot-free for a crime in which he killed someone? I have to be fair because I was right there with everyone else. It didn't seem fair, but their was a reason why the judge only handed out a short jail sentence and more of a punishment outside of a jail cell.
After seeing this interview, I under no circumstance condone what Stallworth did and the whole incident is unforgivable in so many ways. The issue of drunk driving fatalities is a major problem in this country and many people take the law for granted and do not realize what's at stake when you get behind the wheel after having too many. This interview did do one thing for me though. It made me realize Stallworth isn't the huge monster the we're all making him out to be. He made a massive mistake and he shouldn't of drank as much he did on the night of March 13th and morning of March 14th. One thing that get's lost in the shuffle in that Stallworth called the authorities and cooperated fully. He didn't flee the scene and claim he did nothing. Stallworth owned up to his mistakes and truly realized what harm he caused.
That shouldn't make anyone feel sorry for Donte just as he claimed at the end of this interview, but it sure shows people that he is remorseful and not treating this whole thing in the way most people perceived that he did. This interview was conducted very well and Michael Smith did a very good job in getting the truth from Stallworth and making the people understand his remorse. I'm sure some were looking for Stallworth to shed a tear, but one could tell he truly is rattled for the rest of his life.
In one of Stallworth final statements he explained how he was seeing a physiatrist weekly and his thoughts on drinking and daring to get behind the wheel were along the lines of "If I even dare to drink and drive, I would be spitting on Mr.Reye's grave and everything he stood for."
A powerful closing line for a man looking for some closure in a very dark period of his life. Stallworth isn't innocent by any stretch, but at least we heard heard his side. He admitted to making mistakes and he also claimed if he didn't drink things could of been different. Maybe one athlete finally got it. The real question is does he deserve a second chance? The jury is still hung on that one.
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