LeSean McCoy Update: What's the Delay?

LeSean McCoy Update: What’s the Delay?

LeSean McCoy and some of his friends are subject to an investigation relating to a bar fight that happened in Philadelphia following the Super Bowl. We have previously covered this situation with two articles LeSean McCoy Incident: Stop Throwing Shade and Should the Bills Be Worried About LeSean McCoy?. NFL Network’s Albert Breer tweeted that “no charges will be filed until at least Wednesday” of this week. It’s now Friday and there are still no charges. What is the reason for the delay?

Trying to follow this case can be very confusing at times because there are various reports out there that contradict one another. According to this article by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Mark Schwarz of ESPN reported that arrest warrants in the case were “imminent” as of last Friday.

Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News reported last week that “arrest warrants are expected to be issued Wednesday or Thursday to Bills running back LeSean McCoy, and three others” he added that “police sources told the station that investigators have also sent their results to the District Attorney’s office and recommend criminal charges including aggravated assault.”

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney opined “If he wants to pound our officers and stomp our officers, then he needs to pay the price and answer for his actions” according to Philly.com.

Now it is being reported by John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com that the District Attorney is hesitant to bring charges because of “questions about the conduct of the officers that evening, including that the officers did not call 9-1-1 during the incident and whether they were drinking to excess.”

LeSean McCoy’s lawyer, Dennis Cogan, did not mince words when he made several statements in his clients’ defense. Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News reports that Cogan said “We’re awaiting a decision by the DA’s office. We trust that they are really taking the time to consider all the surrounding circumstances. But I’m here to say and I’m telling you that McCoy did nothing wrong, nothing wrong. And he was sober.”

“We’re awaiting a decision by the District Attorney’s office. We trust that they are really taking time to consider all the surrounding circumstances. But I’m here to say and I’m telling you that McCoy did nothing wrong, nothing wrong. And he was sober.”

I spoke with a former assistant district attorney to get his take on the situation and to see if the delay in charges indicated anything as far as whether fans should expect LeSean to be charged or not. He did not seem to think so for a couple of reasons.

He pointed out that since McCoy is famous, this is going to be a high-profile case and so the District Attorney is intelligently proceeding with caution. Bar fights also happen to be one of the hardest cases to prosecute due to the fact that many of the witnesses have been imbibing alcohol and most bars are very dark places where it is difficult to see clearly.

Since McCoy is well-known, there is no reason to believe he is a flight risk. The statute of limitations for a case like this is years away so from their perspective taking a few weeks to make sure their case is strong and worth proceeding with is the proper action to take.

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Naturally, the police union is most likely pushing for McCoy to be prosecuted and how could you blame them for trying to protect their own? On the other hand, the District Attorney is not going to put their reputation on the line just to placate the police union. They are taking their time and making sure the case is worth prosecuting before proceeding.

It seems that this case would be very difficult to prosecute and that is the reason for the delay. How could a jury be impartial when the mayor of Philadelphia states that LeSean “needs to pay the price”? It cannot help that most, if not all of the witnesses, were drinking alcohol. The events happened in a dark bar and the videos that have emerged have not been extremely clear as to what occurred.

On top of all this, according to the reports cited earlier in this article, the District Attorney has questions about the off-duty officers conduct that night. Considering the amount of media attention this case will get, and the uphill battle the District Attorney’s Office would face, it might be best for the District Attorney to either try to settle or drop the case altogether. This would explain the continued delay in charging LeSean McCoy and his friends for their actions that night.

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