Police in Dallas are investigating whether to charge Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel over allegations that he hit, kidnapped and threatened to kill an ex-girlfriend in Dallas last month.
The Dallas Morning News reported that police in hope to wrap up their investigation soon, but they are not sure whether they would immediately arrest the former Texas A&M star or whether they would give the case over to a grand jury.
It’s just the latest case of a famous football player getting into trouble with the law.
The investigation follows allegations by Manziel’s ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, that he abused her on Jan. 29 at Hotel ZaZa in Uptown in the midst of a fight about another woman. Manziel was accused of forcing her into a car, hitting her, dragged her by the hair and later driving her to Fort Worth, reported the Dallas Morning News.
She claimed at one point the football player said, “Shut up or I’ll kill us both.” Crowley and Manziel, broke up in December after dating for two years and living together in Cleveland.
While a kidnap charge may not be substantiated some commentators expect Manziel to be charged with family violence assault.
Here are five football players who have been convicted of serious offenses.
1. Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson
Henderson was a linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys from 1975 to 1980. He was released by Dallas and joined the Houston Oilers for six games before retiring in 1981 due to injury. Henderson was convicted of sexual assault and bribery relating to an incident which involved two teenage girls. He had pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison. He was released after serving 28 months in prison and eight months in rehab.
2. Michael Vick
Michael Vick was handed a 23-month sentence for conspiracy relating to dog fighting in 2007. He played again in the NFL upon his release in 2009, but the Atlanta Falcons no longer wanted the quarterback and he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles. Vick allegedly promoted and funded an illegal dog-fighting operation on his property in Virginia.
3. OJ Simpson
Former NFL star running back O.J. Simpson is the most high profile player to appear in criminal proceedings in recent years. After playing for the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers in the 60s and 70s he became a movie star. He made headlines in 1994 when he was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was found not guilty in October 1995 but at a later trial in 1997, a civil court ordered him to pay $33.5 million for the wrongful stabbing deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman.
In 2007 he was charged with several felonies including armed robbery and kidnapping over an incident involving guns at a Las Vegas hotel. He was found guilty and given a 33-year sentence with no parole for at least nine years.
4. Aaron Hernandez
Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, was convicted of first-degree murder last year. He was charged with killing Odin Lloyd, his fiancé’s sister’s boyfriend. Prosecutors said Hernandez and two other men picked up Lloyd at his house, drove him to a remote industrial park, and shot him six times. Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
5. Leonard Little
Little was a college superstar who was later drafted as an All-American into the NFL in 1998. The St. Louis Rams player drove drunk through a red light after a party, crashed into a car and killed a mother and her two children. He received four years’ probation and 1,000 hours of community service for DUI/vehicular manslaughter. He was arrested again for a DUI In 2004.
