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Here is another possible “career killer” story for a high-profile athlete.
Macgarrett Kings Jr., senior receiver with the Michigan State Spartan football team has been arrested AGAIN on charges of drinking and driving. He was charged over the weekend with “drunken and disorderly” conduct. And if that is not bad enough, he was also charge with obstructing, resisting, hindering or assaulting a police officer.
The Spartan football player is a Florida native, and apparently the education he received as a youngster on the dangers of drinking and driving were inadequate.
This is not the first time that Kings has had trouble with drinking and driving. He was suspended for much of the spring football season in 2014 after he was stopped by police with a blood-alcohol content of 0.234, which easily qualifies for Michigan’s “super drunk” laws. That is nearly 3 times the legal limit!
For that crime, King was sentenced to 13 months of probation after pleading guilty to the DUI charge in exchange for having the OWI charge dropped.
The star Spartan football player was ordered to pay only $1,700 in total fines. His probation entailed a suspended license, seven days of community service work and substance abuse counseling. And he was prohibited from consuming alcohol and being in establishments “where alcohol is sold for consumption on the premises.”
Do athletes of this stature receive special treatment when it comes to DUI offenses? Possibly. The most amazing part of this story is that many of these profile athletes never really learn from their mistakes – ones that could cost them much more in the long run than a few thousand dollars in fines.
If King continues down this path, he could quite possibly kill someone the next time. Rather than a stellar NFL career, he will instead be doing 15-20 years in federal prison for manslaughter. Let’s hope he learns this time.
