Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward Arrested for DUI
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward has just been arrested for a DUI charge in Georgia. According to the DeKalb County sheriff's office, the Super Bowl MVP and Dancing with the Stars champion was booked into the DeKalb County Jail in the suburbs of Atlanta earlier today at around 3:41 AM. He was formally charged with driving under the influence and then released on $1000 bond.
There is no word yet on how the Steelers organization plans on handling this turn of events but history has shown that they have a very low tolerance for such behavior. The Steelers have a notably pristine history and typically, they will not hesitate to release anybody who threatens to tarnish that image.
Case in point, wide receiver and Super Bowl XLIII hero Santonio Holmes was traded to the New York Jets last year after a 2008 arrest for marijuana possession followed by even more legal issues stemming from a violent incident with an ex-girlfriend.
However, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has experienced multiple scandals of his own yet he's still a member of the team. He was first accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Lake Tahoe in 2008 but those charges were subsequently dropped due to lack of evidence. The next year, he was again accused of sexual assault inside a women's restroom in a Georgia nightclub but those charges were also dropped.
Instead of being cut from the team like Holmes, Roethlisberger was punished with a six-game suspension by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (which was later reduced to four games). Because of Ward's long and distinguished history with the Steelers franchise, it's most likely that he will also face suspension rather than termination for the team.
Follow Technorati