AUSTIN, Texas - Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson was arrested on failing a sobriety test while operating a 10-metre boat. He tried to resist so officers hit him with pepper spray and dragged ashore.
Benson faces charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest after the incident Saturday night on Lake Travis, Travis County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Roger Wade said.
He has already secured his release by signing a US$14,500 bond. A call to Benson’s agent was not immediately returned.
Benson was operating the boat with 15 passengers aboard when he was stopped by a Lower Colorado River Authority officer for a random safety inspection. He failed a field sobriety test on the officer’s boat and was unco-operative when the officer tried to take him ashore, the authority said.
In a statement the authority said:
When Benson did not pass the test, he presented himself as a threat to the officer and argued about whether or not he would be taken to land to have a follow-up field sobriety test performed on land and refused to put on a life jacket.
The officer had to use pepper spray to subdue Benson. He then refused to leave the officer’s boat and had to be dragged to a car to be taken to the Travis County jail, the authority said.
Benson has had legal problems before.
He was sentenced to eight days in jail in 2003 for a misdemeanor trespassing charge after forcing his way into an apartment to look for a reported stolen TV. In 2002, misdemeanor drug and alcohol charges against him were dropped.
Benson rushed for more than 5,500 yards and 64 touchdowns at the University of Texas, going for 1,000 yards in four straight seasons.
The 25-year-old has done little since the Bears took him with the fourth pick of the 2005 draft.
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