He was the unexpected "Dancing With the Stars" champion, and he's been a Super Bowl MVP: The Pittsburgh Steelers' wide receiver Hines Ward has been arrested near Atlanta, Georgia. Police say the dancing and football star is suspected of drunk driving--while Ward's lawyer issues an extremely odd statement in the pro player's defense.
Booked into the DeKalb County Jail shortly before 4 a.m., Hines Ward has been charged with driving under the influence and released on bond ranging between $1,000 and $1,300. Ward's Atlanta lawyer, Andrew Ree, has already issued statement about the 35-year-old football player and celebrity's drunk driving accusation -- the attorney stating Ward cooperated with police and truthfully answered law enforcement's questions.
Yeah, those are the usually the things you're supposed to do if arrested -- but it's a good thing Hines Ward's attorney is so clear about stating the obvious, just to avoid confusion and all. The football player wasn't charged with resisting arrest or assault, so logic would make it safe to say he probably cooperated with law enforcement.
Football player Hines Ward was originally drafted in the third round out of Georgia 13 years ago in 1998. Ward has since been a four-time Pro Bowl selection in pro football and has played on teams that have won two Super Bowls.
In the celebrity realm, Hines Ward has become only the second professional football player to win on tv's "Dancing with the Stars". Pro football player Emmitt Smith preceded Ward, winning top place on the dancing show in 2006. In 2011, Ward was paired with professional dance partner Kym Johnson to win the title on this year's season that just ended in May 2011.
Drunk driving charges may not be rare -- celebrity or not -- but Hines Ward's lawyer's statement is unusually weird. He seems to win the award for double-speak: "From our preliminary investigation we can tell you that we are confident that the facts will show that Hines was NOT impaired by alcohol while driving," Ward's attorney Ree wrote. "However, Hines is deeply saddened by this incident and apologizes to his fans and the Steelers organization for this distraction."
"Preliminary investigation"? There hasn't been a lot of time for investigation in an incident that culminated in an arrest just hours ago. In fact, if any blood alcohol tests were performed, it can take up to a month for test results to be returned -- which makes any investigation, especially a preliminary one, more than a bit difficult to believe only half a day later. But Ward's attorney seems to be awfully confident. Perhaps he's confident in the idea that he seems to have provided himself a vast amount of wiggle room, and seems very skilled in his trade.
The translation seems to be: 'we're insisting for now that Hines Ward wasn't drinking and driving -- until this blows over and gets out of the media (and we're going to use a really big 'NOT', in all caps, to convince people he was not drunk). But, if tests later prove that Ward was in fact guilty of drunk driving, we'll just blame it on the fact we said it was a PRELIMINARY investigation -- that way, we can't be called liars because, after all, it was a preliminary investigation so we couldn't have had all the facts.'
Perhaps the funniest part is Hines Ward's lawyer's insinuation that police or law enforcement is at fault: "However, Hines is deeply saddened by this incident and apologizes to his fans and the Steelers organization for this distraction." As any good lawyer will say, you don't apologize for something you didn't do -- so, if Ward is as innocent as his attorney claims, the football player is obviously not apologizing for drunk driving. That leaves only other options: That Ward appears to be apologizing for those damn police or law enforcement who caused this 'distraction' with incorrect accusations.
Steelers Fans: If you're upset, just know you're supposed to blame the cops -- not Hines.
The Pittsburgh Steelers team reps aren't speaking -- and perhaps they're the brightest. Sometimes no statement is the right statement.
Separately, the Hines Ward DUI arrest actually marks the second time Ward's been in handcuffs in less than two months. Fortunately for the NFL star, this time wasn't marked by guns. In May 2011 Ward was ordered out of a car at gunpoint -- then handcuffed by Los Angeles police. LAPD apparently, mistakenly, thought the car in which he was riding 'shotgun' was stolen.
As it turned out, Ward's female friend who was driving the vehicle had forgotten to let cops know she'd recovered the car, after a miscommunication with a valet over where the car had been parked. She apparently forgot about that stolen vehicle report from the month prior.
It's a little unclear why an LAPD police officer -- who saw the car in Studio City -- decided to run the car's plate when the vehicle hadn't even been stopped by police for any reason. Good thing there was no potential profiling going on. After receiving confirmation the vehicle had been reported stolen, the car was stopped by police. Both driver and passenger, Ward, got handcuffed while the driver explained -- and until police could verify the woman owned the car.
It hasn't been a good early part of 2011 for Hines Ward and the combination of vehicles and handcuffs.