Spoiler:
On Friday, a Harris County grand jury indicted Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett on a felony charge of injuring an elderly person for his actions after Super Bowl 51 in 2017, when he allegedly pushed a 66-year-old paraplegic woman out of the way to he could gain access to the field after the game.
Bennett was not playing in the game; his brother Martellus Bennett was playing for the New England Patriots.
Houston Police Chief described Bennett’s alleged actions at a press conference:
Mr. Bennett forcibly opened the locked doors at the southwest corner of the NRG Budweiser tunnels even though security stated he did not have access to the tunnels to get to the field. In an attempt to push his way and force his way into the field … he pushed back one white female who was 28 years of age and pushed back another male individual. Mr. Bennett then went up to a 66-year-old black female employee of the NRG, a paraplegic, and pushed her.
Mr. Bennett’s assault on this individual actually caused injury; according to medical records, a sprain of her shoulder. Mr. Bennett then continued to try to get onto the field, at which time one of our officers, Officer Morgan, from our eastside division, who was actually working at the stadium providing security, who witnessed the incident, attempted to contact Mr. Bennett and actually tried to stop him and question him. Mr. Bennett disregarded Officer Morgan, said, “F*** you,” and walked past him on the field. Mr. Bennett, also, after pushing the females, both the 28-year-old white female and the 66-year-old paraplegic black female, stated to them, “You all must know who I am; and I can own this m.f. m*****f*****. I’m going onto the field whether you like it or not.”
Again, Officer Morgan attempted to intervene, and walk up. Officer Morgan then did an assessment, based on the fact that he was a one-man unit, Mr. Bennett is a much larger than he is, there’s pandemonium, and quite frankly, he recognized Mr. Bennett as being, as you all know here in Houston, an NFL player. He knew that he had to keep eyes on that location. He did not feel that Mr. Bennett posed an additional threat to anyone by going onto the field, and he made a split-second decision to check on the women, especially the 66-year-old paraplegic who was knocked down.
Acevedo said of Bennett’s actions, “I think it’s pretty pathetic that you would put your hands on a 66-year-old paraplegic and just treat them like they don’t exist." A warrant has been issued for Bennett’s arrest; he could serve up to 10 years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine.
On Friday afternoon, the Eagles released a statement: “We are aware of the situation involving Michael Bennett and are in the process of gathering more information. Because this is an ongoing legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time.”
Last fall, Bennett accused two Hispanic officers of racially profiling and using excessive force against him when responding to a false shooting report at the Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. But then a video surfaced that disproved Bennett’s claims. As The Daily Wire reported in late September:
TMZ previously reported that everyone in the club was told by the police to get down and not move, at which point Bennett reportedly took off running. On September 6, Bennett said that police “singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.” However, newly-released footage shows that Bennett did not tell the truth about why he was detained. “The footage shows a 3-man police team — made up of 2 Hispanic officers and 1 black officer — identify Bennett as a suspicious person who did not get down on the ground as ordered during the hotel sweep,” TMZ reported Friday.
Bennett was not playing in the game; his brother Martellus Bennett was playing for the New England Patriots.
Houston Police Chief described Bennett’s alleged actions at a press conference:
Mr. Bennett forcibly opened the locked doors at the southwest corner of the NRG Budweiser tunnels even though security stated he did not have access to the tunnels to get to the field. In an attempt to push his way and force his way into the field … he pushed back one white female who was 28 years of age and pushed back another male individual. Mr. Bennett then went up to a 66-year-old black female employee of the NRG, a paraplegic, and pushed her.
Mr. Bennett’s assault on this individual actually caused injury; according to medical records, a sprain of her shoulder. Mr. Bennett then continued to try to get onto the field, at which time one of our officers, Officer Morgan, from our eastside division, who was actually working at the stadium providing security, who witnessed the incident, attempted to contact Mr. Bennett and actually tried to stop him and question him. Mr. Bennett disregarded Officer Morgan, said, “F*** you,” and walked past him on the field. Mr. Bennett, also, after pushing the females, both the 28-year-old white female and the 66-year-old paraplegic black female, stated to them, “You all must know who I am; and I can own this m.f. m*****f*****. I’m going onto the field whether you like it or not.”
Again, Officer Morgan attempted to intervene, and walk up. Officer Morgan then did an assessment, based on the fact that he was a one-man unit, Mr. Bennett is a much larger than he is, there’s pandemonium, and quite frankly, he recognized Mr. Bennett as being, as you all know here in Houston, an NFL player. He knew that he had to keep eyes on that location. He did not feel that Mr. Bennett posed an additional threat to anyone by going onto the field, and he made a split-second decision to check on the women, especially the 66-year-old paraplegic who was knocked down.
Acevedo said of Bennett’s actions, “I think it’s pretty pathetic that you would put your hands on a 66-year-old paraplegic and just treat them like they don’t exist." A warrant has been issued for Bennett’s arrest; he could serve up to 10 years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine.
On Friday afternoon, the Eagles released a statement: “We are aware of the situation involving Michael Bennett and are in the process of gathering more information. Because this is an ongoing legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time.”
Last fall, Bennett accused two Hispanic officers of racially profiling and using excessive force against him when responding to a false shooting report at the Cromwell Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. But then a video surfaced that disproved Bennett’s claims. As The Daily Wire reported in late September:
TMZ previously reported that everyone in the club was told by the police to get down and not move, at which point Bennett reportedly took off running. On September 6, Bennett said that police “singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.” However, newly-released footage shows that Bennett did not tell the truth about why he was detained. “The footage shows a 3-man police team — made up of 2 Hispanic officers and 1 black officer — identify Bennett as a suspicious person who did not get down on the ground as ordered during the hotel sweep,” TMZ reported Friday.
