Some potentially unsettling details are emerging.
Link: Police Account of Devin Butler Arrest Disputed by Multiple Eyewitnesses
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Whether he remains suspended from the team is up to Kelly. Right now I think he has bigger issues than being suspended from team activities, esprcially since he is injured.
but this is a case that I would make an exception. I could care less about what the ND haters think. "Haters gonna hate" anyways.
We need to support our own here. I don't think Kelly was wrong with the suspension at the start, but I think he can now "unsuspend" him until the case plays out in court. This is a break from the hardline ND has always taken, but this is an extraordinary case.
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Now for any other school that would not be true
But all ND players are angels
As pointed out, Butler has had no known discipline issues and with some eye-witness statements coming out that this cop may have exaggerated the events and may in fact have created the events in the altercation, at some point you have to go with what you know - Butler is likely not the aggressor in the conflict. We know that the cop has had several "reported" events where he was in the wrong and lied about events to make an arrest. Those are just the ones that are known. I'm going with Butler on this.
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Now do you get my gist
ND players fuck up but they are all angels.....
I dont think so....
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I don't know all of the facts but other statements made it seem that it was Bailey, Bulter's girlfriend, who assaulted another woman until Butler pushed her away.
She's the one that instigated this whole mess. She should have been charged with hospitalizing another. She sounds nuckin futs.
Yeah, you don't know all the facts so it's unlikely the woman who started the incident is telling the truth.
Absolute genius
i would love for him to be exonerated, but there is no way to know where the truth is right now.
and it smells worse now.
I would bet that unless there is videotape or other witnesses that bear up the cops' story, this will go away for Butler.
If Butler is innocent, I hope enough unbiased eyewitnesses come forward.
Trying to figure out which of the following is more likely is doing my head in:
- an injured student athlete with no known behavior issues goes berserk on cops
- cops go berserk on injured student athlete in front of eyewitnesses and then report the incident in a way that results in two felony charges
Either way, I hope that Officer Knepper doesn't come by to break up our MSU tailgater.
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I don't think what I'm saying is that insane. I hope if Devin Butler is innocent (and I think he could be) that an objective, sober (ish) eyewitness can dispute the officer's report. That might be more convincing to a jury / prosecutor's office than hearing from the girl responsible for sending another girl to the hospital and potentially ruining Devin Butler's career at ND. Feel free, though, to read this too quickly, put words in my mouth, and react harshly...again.
let the legal process run its course. I think he and the university will catch some shit for this.
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This appears to be a very sticky case. Might as well let Butler sit out away from the team to avoid any distractions since the guy was out with an injury.
Butler was not kicked off the team. He was suspended, presumably till his legal trouble is resolved. That was absolutely the right thing to do. Once he was arrested and charged, that was the way to handle it.
waiting to see a judge. National commentary will reference the same thing. They'll say a coach should be there to support his players.
If ND is true to what they claim, then he had to be suspended. Once he was arrested and charged with a felony it had to be that way. Otherwise ND is just like the other football factories. If he was truly railroaded and the charges get dropped then I assume he will be reinstated. But that will not mean that Kelly acted too quickly. It will mean that Butler got a raw deal from the DA and the SB police.
As for the talking heads in the media, ND can not allow their opinions to drive this process. So many of them will find fault with ND because that's what gets them heard.
ht. ND and Kelly could have simply said we're going to let the legal course run its path. They did not, and they'll look stupid if he's set free. Your argument justifies the horrible behavior of Duke and recently Virginia. It's disappointing ND decides everyone is guilty until proven innocent.
WestCoastIrishFan is another ahole from the liberal left coast.
You seem like you need to go root for an SEC school. Intentions?!!! Look, Whatever Devin Butler did, he did enough to get arrested and booked on a felony. Brian Kelly did not remove him from the team, he suspended him. He IS waiting for the legal process to take its course. If the charges get dropped, he will be taken off suspension, I would presume. If he is found guilty he will be removed from the team and most likely the school.
Kelly will look stupid if Butler is let off? To whom, you? The media? That's ridiculous. If Kelly had slow played this and let Butler continue with the team as if nothing had happened, this national media that you are concerned with would skewer him, as well as ND, for being hypocrites. And they would be correct.
I was trying to be respectful to you and then you take a shot like that. Butler is not being mishandled by Brian Kelly. This was the right way to handle it.
him off the team and school. Kelly jumped the gun. Kids should have a team and coach supporting him. Go watch the Real Sports on the Duke case and tell me what you think of that coach. He stuck by his players through it all.
I don't think that a suspension is as harsh as you make it out to be. Butler is basically on hold until the legal matters play out. I don't see where Kelly is turning his back on him. He is not off the team, and is still in school. He needs to get this situation straightened out before he worries about football.
If Kelly were like you seem to be implying, then maybe he would have removed all six guys from the team. No, based upon the facts, he did not do that to four of the five who had misdemeanor charges. They were disciplined within the confines of the team and that was it. He could not do that with a felony charge, whether it was bogus or not. He had all the facts that were available at the time and did not jump the gun. He couldn't say. well, maybe he was framed, I think I'll wait to see what happens. No, he took the right action that was best for the program, the school, AND Devin Butler. That's my opinion, you have yours.
If so, then it would appear he over charged in spite of evidence contradicting the police report. Unless he drops charges or reduces them to misdemeanors in a plea bargain, the matter will be settled in court. If that doesn't happen and it goes to trial, it does not look good for Butler to play this year.
They were told to go home.
If what the claim is true it would have been better to do everything possible to head this off before Tuesday. I any event, right now it looks like things will proceed in the slow moving justice system. The question is will Butler remain in school while that unfolds.
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As I mentioned in other comments, Goon cops will happily subvert civil liberties by filing false charges of "resisting arrest" and "assaulting an officer". Often as CYA after they have given someone an undeserved beat-down.
The DA is usually aligned with the Cops. The way these false charges play out if witnesses come forward or a video capture of Cop criminality is presented as evidence, the DA will quietly drop the charges and also let the Goon cops off scot-free. If the witnesses to the Butler incident come off as credible, expect that resolution.
So then good for Butler, but the downside for the rest of us is that the Goon behavior is tolerated and those guys will have no compunction about doing the same in the future.
Knepper still has his badge and a job is proof that the Goon behavior is tolerated and enabled by the legal system. Putting aside Butler's case, there is no way he she be able to have his current job. He should be pushing papers (at best) and withheld from law enforcement. Until these types are dealt consistent and harsh penalties, they will continue to be bullies hiding behind their badges.
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