American Football: bears receiver misses court, handcuffed and taken to jail

oh the irony, a pro athelete treated like a common person


Bears' Terrell handcuffed in Traffic Court

January 21, 2005

BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMAN STAFF REPORTER

Chicago Bears wide receiver David Terrell was handcuffed and taken to jail today after missing a morning Traffic Court date and showing up in court in the afternoon.

“Where were you this morning?” Judge James Ryan asked the receiver, who was due in court at 9 a.m. for a series of traffic violations.

Terrell said he didn’t know he had a court date, and was dropping his son off at school.

“Execute the warrant,” Ryan told his deputies in the courtroom, referring to an arrest warrant issued by Judge Rhoda Davis Sweeney this morning after Terrell was a no-show.

Sheriff’s deputies cuffed him and led him away. He was to be taken by bus to the criminal courthouse at 26th and California to post 10 percent of his $2,500 bail.

Terrell was supposed to be in court at 9 a.m. at the Daley Center. When he didn’t turn up, Sweeney at first pushed that back to 10 a.m. She waited until 10:20 a.m., then issued the arrest warrant.

Terrell’s attorney, Jerome F. Marconi, told the judge in the morning he didn’t know why his client wasn’t there.

“I have not personally spoken to him,” Marconi told Sweeney. “I don’t have an explanation. . . . I’ll find him. We’ll be back with an explanation of why he wasn’t here. He isn’t going anywhere. He isn’t fleeing the jurisdiction.”

In issuing the warrant, Sweeney noted that the Bears receiver was late at his last court appearance, too, on Dec. 13 — by 30 to 40 minutes, Marconi estimated.

Terrell’s agent contacted him after the warrant was issued, and Terrell said he made it to the Daley Center by 11 a.m.

He expected the warrant to be set aside during an afternoon hearing, and was relaxed. But when he got before Ryan, things changed.

Terrell was cited for half a dozen traffic violations in November, when he was stopped on the North Side in his black 2004 Range Rover. He was cited for violations including reckless driving, driving on a suspended driver’s license, failure to yield at an intersection and not having license plates, insurance or registration. Terrell has since renewed his license.

Terrell’s driving record includes past citations for driving on a suspended license, speeding and disregarding a stop sign, records show

Good deal, glad to see no preferential treatment, but of course he isn't exactly an all-pro...