Billy Reed: When it comes to domestic violence, the rules should be no different for athletes

For the past couple of years, stories about football players being charged with various kinds of domestic violence have dominated the newspaper headlines and TV and radio networks. In the NFL, the most discussed cases involved Ray Rice, who was caught on a casino elevator security tape punching out his fiancée, and Adrian Peterson, who was charged with punishing his young son with lashes from a switch.

In college, the most notorious story involved Florida State freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, who won the 2014 Heisman Trophy with rape allegations hanging over his head. The case created so much negative publicity for Winston, the football program, the university and the Tallahassee police department that you had to think it would be a long time before another incident so ugly happened in Tallahassee.

But apparently De’Andre Johnson, a former Florida Mr. Football who was expected to compete for Winston’s former job this fall, didn’t get the message. Or maybe he doesn’t watch ESPN. Because doggone if last month he didn’t get involved in an altercation at a Tallahassee bar that ended with him punching a female student in the face with his right fist.

Never mind that Johnson had no business being in the bar in the first place. He is 19, two years under the legal drinking age, and would have been arrested had he stayed around to face the music. Instead, he disappeared from the scene almost immediately after landing the punch, leaving his victim dazed and bleeding.

As was the case with Rice, but not Winston, Johnson had no wiggle room because security cameras taped the entire episode. The woman appears to be intoxicated. Perhaps, as Johnson’s attorney has claimed, she hurled racial epithets at him. She definitely threw a weak punch. But none of that matters. The sight of Johnson’s punch is as jarring as it is disgusting. He has no excuse, and Coach Jimbo Fisher had no choice but to kick him off the Florida State team, which he did as soon as he saw the tape.

The Johnson case is so open and shut that not even the Tallahassee police department can screw it up. As you may recall, according to a New York Times investigation, Tallahassee’s finest did not exactly distinguish themselves with the way they “investigated” the Winston case. In fact, one officer more or less warned the woman that she might want to think about dropping the charges because “football is awful big in Tallahassee.”

And there is the crux of the matter. Star athletes are taught from an early age that they get to play by a different set of rules. Because they are precocious at throwing or dunking or kicking a ball, they are allowed to cut corners – and there’s always going to be somebody waiting to cover for them if they mess up.

In an interesting bit of timing, the news about Johnson’s assault broke as the nation was celebrating the victory by the U.S. women’s soccer team in the FIFA World Cup. But there was a dark cloud lingering in the background there, too. The star goalie of the U.S. team, Hope Solo, was allowed to play despite some serious domestic violence issues hanging over her head.

In an Outside The Lines Investigative Report that aired on June 7, ESPN revealed new information about what happened on June 21, 2014, when Solo erupted in what police say was a “drunken, violent rampage.” She allegedly assaulted and abused her half-sister and that individual’s son. According to police documents obtained by ESPN, Solo was verbally abusive to police officers, calling one a “b***h,” and declaring, “You know if the handcuffs were off, I’d kick your ass.” When an officer asked her to remove a necklace, she reportedly told him the necklace “was worth more than he makes in a year.”

She spent three nights in jail before being released.

Earlier this year, Solo was suspended from the U.S. team for 30 days for an an unrelated incident involving her husband, former NFL player Jerramy Stevens. He was driving a U.S. soccer team van when police stopped him and charged him with DUI. Solo was in the van, and, according to police reports, was verbally abusive to officers.

Some in the soccer world thought Solo should have been kicked off the U.S. team for conduct unbecoming. But when Judge Michael Lambo of Kirkland Municipal Court detected a procedural error in the case involving her half-sister and tossed it out, Solo claimed vindication and was soon reinstated by the U.S. team under certain stipulations that were not made public.

However, prosecutors were not done with Solo. In a rare move that required city administrator approval, prosecutors filed an appeal with the Superior Court of Washington. Prosecutors are scheduled to file their arguments on July 13, with the defense to respond by Aug. 10. Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 13.

On the one hand, it’s heartening to learn that there is no double standard for female athletes accused of domestic violence. But on the other, should Solo have been allowed to compete in the World Cup? Had she been a scrub instead of the world’s best goalie, would U.S. soccer authorities have treated the case differently? Or was this just another case of an administrative body enabling a miscreant for the sake of glory and gold?

I don’t know anything about De’Andre Johnson’s background, but I do know that Hope Solo had a terrible childhood. However, because of her ability to play soccer and determination to succeed, she elevated herself into the privileged class. What she told the policeman probably was correct: Her bracelet probably is worth more than he will earn in a year.

And for all the debate about paying college athletes, a football scholarship also is a privilege. If you don’t think so, ask the millions of students who are going deep into debt trying to get an education. But with that privilege comes responsibility, the very least of which is conducting yourself in accordance with the laws and standards of our society.

As ugly as the Solo case is – and it’s pretty ugly – there’s nothing worse than a man punching a woman or child. It’s virtually impossible for any sane person to watch the Johnson or Rice tapes without inwardly cringing. But here’s a chilling truth: Both probably could have lied their way out of trouble had it not been for the incontrovertible evidence the camera recorded.

I realize that some athletes are falsely accused. The case of former Louisville basketball star Chris Jones leaps immediately to mind. I also realize that domestic violence is a societal issue that is by no means any worse in the sports world than it is in any other facet of our society.

But fair or not, the hard truth is this: If you are a celebrity or public figure – as athletes at elite conference universities surely are – both your successes and your failures are going to be blown way out of proportion, especially here in the brave new world of social media. I’m sure coaches preach this truth constantly. Still, though, it doesn’t seem to get through to some knuckleheads who have been told for years that they’re special, and exempt from normal social behavior, just because they can play ball.

We can only hope that at both the pro and college levels, administrations adopt the same zero tolerance policy for domestic violence that they have for drugs. Upon being arrested and/or officially accused of a crime, the player should be suspended pending an investigation.

So what if his or her team might lose a game or two due to his or her absence? That’s a small price to pay considering the seriousness of the charges. No matter how talented they are, no matter how much revenue they generate or how many victories they assure, athletes are not above the law.

Enough is enough. One more domestic violence case is too many. I don’t see how anybody can see Johnson’s fist slamming into his victim’s face and come up with any other conclusion.

Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award twice. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades, but he is perhaps one of media’s most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby.