Tre Mason, son of De La Soul emcee Maseo, was once the most exciting thing in the St. Louis Rams backfield. That changed quickly when eventual offensive rookie of the year Todd Gurley joined the team, as he quickly asserted himself as the most talented back by a wide margin. However, the team still hopes Mason can work his way back into the rotation, with coach Jeff Fisher saying that Mason needs to have “a great offseason program” if he wants to re-assert himself.
Those hopes are not going well so far, as over the weekend Mason was pulled over for speeding, tased and then arrested after failing to comply with police officers. The NFL running back was originally pulled over in Hollywood, Florida, for traveling 75 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. Mason initially refused to pull over, and once he did he refused to give the officer his name or his driver’s license. Instead, all he did was pull out his phone to record the officer.
The officer noted that Mason’s car smelled of marijuana, and his refusal to comply with any of the officer’s requests forced the officer to place Mason under arrest. Of course, Mason also refused to comply with that request, so the officer called for back up and was only able to subdue the Rams running back by tasing him.
Mason took a trip to the hospital, and then was charged with suspicion of possession of marijuana, reckless driving, failure to register a motor vehicle and resisting arrest. We had no idea “suspicion of possession of marijuana” was an actual crime, but we do now.
Let this be a lesson in police interactions. Filming the police is a great way to protect yourself, but for it to be effective you also have to comply with officers.
[via]