Cabrera Has Plenty Of Company
DETROIT (WWJ) - While Detroit Tigers' first baseman Miguel Cabrera is the talk of the town due to his alleged drunk driving arrest in Florida Wednesday, he is not alone. Unfortunately, Cabrera has quite a bit of company in the 'athletes behaving dangerously' category. Let's take a weaving trip down memory lane.
According to the police report, a St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputy arrested the 27-year-old Miguel Cabrera Wednesday night in Florida, where Tigers spring training is underway. The deputy pulled up to Cabrera's car, which was on the side of the road with the smoke coming from the engine of his vehicle.
Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand, 41, was arrested June of 2010, in Roscommon County, the Associated Press reported last year. Lewand was in the area for a charity golf event hosted by a former Lion. Lewand, who has spent 16 years with the Lions, oversees the team's day-to-day operations and reports to owner William Clay Ford.
According to a police report, Lewand's breath test came back at 0.21 percent shortly after being stopped for erratic driving.
Lary Sorenson was a major league pitcher and later an announcer for the Detroit Tigers Radio Network, has five DUI's to date. The most recent was in 2008, when he was found with a blood alcohol level of .48 percent, enough to kill the average person.
The Detroit Lions have had several on their roster who have had run ins with the law, including multi-offender, Reggie Rogers who drove into another car killing three teenagers. His blood alcohol level was .15. Rogers served prison time for that offense. Out of prison and back on the road-Rogers was pulled over for his sixth DUI in 2010.
Former Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers has been arrested at least two times and spent time in jail.
In January 2010, Rogers was sentenced to 93 days in jail for contempt of court after apparently drinking too much and passing out at a Mexican restaurant. Rogers had been ordered to stay away from alcohol after pleading guilty to impaired driving.
Rogers was suspended by the Lions for substance abuse in 2005 and released the next year.
The Lions had a series of coaches in trouble: Wayne Fontes, then a Lions defensive coordinator, was pulled over in 1987 for suspicion of drunk driving. Then cocaine was found in the car-but Fontes clarified the 'cocaine thing' by informing the officer that it was not his....it was his son's cocaine. The following year Fontes was promoted to head coach of the Detroit Lions.
Joe Cullen, Lions defensive line coach, in 2006 he decided to grab a late night meal and drove up to the Wendy's drive through window, naked. One week later he was arrested for drunk driving.
University of Michigan's football coach Gary Moeller also had a less than stellar scene when arrested for causing a drunken disturbance and punching a police officer in the chest, after a celebratory night out with his wife at a Southfield restaurant in 1995. Moeller resigned as head coach shortly after the arrest.
Scott Skiles known for his stand-out play with MSU basketball, has multiple offenses. While the point guard put up impressive numbers during his four years at MSU, during a 16 month period starting in 1984, Skiles may have posted his least impressive stats: two DUI arrests, a drug possession arrest , two jail sentences and 18 days in prison.
In Michigan, a driver is considered drunk if his or her blood alcohol content is more than 0.08
Do you have other stories about Detroit athletes behaving badly? Leave us your story in the comment section below.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
