When A Police Officer Attacks A College Or Pro-Athlete During A Game

 

 

Athletes are not above the law. It follows that in a physical confrontation between, on the one hand a college or pro-athlete, and, on the other hand, a police officer, the police officer may be in the right. Alternatively, police officers are not above the law either. When the police officer is in the wrong, the popular imagination turns to three possibilities: [1] the cop had a bad day—and should be disciplined and receive remedial training; [2] the cop regularly has bad days—and should be fired for using excessive force; or, [3] the cop is a bigot who is using force for improper purposes—and never should have been entrusted with public authority.

But that’s wrong. There is another possibility—all too real—that the public overlooks and that the authorities have little incentive to investigate. The other possibility is that the cop is in financial distress, and she has money on the game. Such a cop looks to take a player out in order to win a bet—a bet which has been placed under someone else’s name. Or, even worse, the cop is taking a player out to facilitate cheating by organized crime.

A bad police officer would much rather be known as a bigot, and so keep her job or find another job as a policeman after having been disciplined and having received remedial training, than being prosecuted for having taken payoffs from the mob. A police officer being involved in the latter might happily admit to being “merely” a bigot. And, it is so much easier and safer for the commanding officers and the local prosecutor to allow the “bigot” to resign, rather than investigate criminal wrongdoing. After all, the mob might respond in a way somewhat unlike what you or I might do.

When a police officer, without cause, has an unexplained physical confrontation with a college or pro-athlete: the officer’s home should be searched; she should be made to explain the source of any funds in her bank account; and, her telephones tapped. It is that simple. If that is not the first response by more senior police officers and her agency’s internal investigations body when put on notice of such wrongdoing, then just maybe they are part of the problem too.

Finally, when the police “inadvertently” bust down the door to the wrong address in pursing drug crime, one has to wonder, was it actually inadvertent, or were they facilitating the drug dealers’ getting away?

It is all too easy to look the other way. Courage requires that we address these problems. And law and order starts with the police. 

Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘When A Police Officer Attacks A College Or Pro-Athlete During A Game,’ New Reform Club (Nov. 25, 2025, 1:45 PM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2025/11/when-police-officer-attacks-college-or.html>;