Rashee Rice is Under Investigation for Assault in a Dallas Nightclub
When Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice caused this pileup after going 119 mph on a crowded Dallas highway, head coach and America's most beloved french fry thief Andy Reid wasted no time responding. He put Rice and the world on notice that he was taking swift and indecisive inaction.
"As far as Rashee Rice goes, his situation, I'm leaving that like we've done most of these, just for the law enforcement part of it to take place and then we'll go from there with that," Reid boldly stated. "I have had an opportunity to talk to Rashee, and I'm not going to obviously get into that, but that part, that part has been gone through." And then gave us all his assurances that just because his wideout is facing eight criminal charges and a tsunami of lawsuits, he'll be a full participant in Phase 1 of the Chiefs offseason program.
Well if there's a sign in the offices in Kansas City that says, "IT HAS BEEN [38] DAYS SINCE AN EMPLOYEE WAS SUSPECTED BY THE DALLAS POLICE OF CAUSING BODILY INJURY,", they'll have to reset it back to [0] today. Because Rice could be in deeper trouble:
ESPN - Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is a suspect in an alleged assault that injured a man at a Dallas nightclub earlier this week, police there confirmed to The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday.
The newspaper, citing law enforcement officials, reported that officers were dispatched early Monday morning to the nightclub after reports of an assault. A man was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, including swelling on one side of his face, the officials told the Morning News.
To be clear, this is all the information we have right now. The police have confirmed they haven't filed charges yet. The Chiefs and Rice's attorney have "no commented" everybody. Though I think we can probably guess what the lawyer will say:
What we can be reasonably sure of is that as part of the terms of his release in the car crash, Rice was ordered to "not commit any new offenses during the pendency of this matter." That's the way it's phrased in Massachusetts courts, anyway. I'm sure in Texas it's that or words to that effect. Plain English translation, "Keep out of trouble while this is all playing out or we'll revoke your bail and put you in jail until the case is decided." Movie quote reference: "You're on Double Secret Probation."
And it's looking very much like he may have violated those terms. Same city. Same police force. Different charges. Same second-year wideout with a newly minted Super Bowl ring. Once again getting himself into an outrageous situation due to his hilarious, madcap hijinks. Even worse this time by the fact he's under court orders not to create any more havoc with his wacky antics. And if he is charged, that means he couldn't make it to 40 days without causing someone bodily harm.
Naturally, the internet has thoughts:
For now, we wait for Dallas' Finest to complete their investigation and see if they file charges. If they do, Rice goes back to court, and the ball is then in the courts of the Chiefs and the NFL. One major difference between now and the time Andy Reid gave that squish non-answer is that KC drafted a younger, much faster, and better replacement in Xavier Worthy, so they can more afford to jettison the pod on Rice. Between that and the court order to keep his nose clean, the fact that he was anywhere within 10 city blocks of a fight in a nightclub is enough to make you wonder if the man can ever be trusted to stay out of trouble.
So stay tuned. We might be about to see a promising career go up in flames just as it was getting started. Thoughts and prayers to Patrick Mahomes right now.