NYT: At Florida State, Football Clouds Justice

zoogs · October 11, 2014

When Jesus (Bobo) Wilson, an up-and-coming wide receiver, was stopped by the Tallahassee police in June while riding a stolen Bintelli Sprint motor scooter, his story was dubious: He claimed he had borrowed it from a student whose last name he did not know. But for Officer Michael Petroczky, it was convincing enough to forestall an arrest.

(...) After letting Mr. Wilson go, the officer arranged to meet the owner, a Florida State student, in a campus parking lot at night and questioned if I was mentally stable or if I had forgotten that I lent him the scooter, the student said in an email interview. The officer seemed deeply reluctant to charge Mr. Wilson, saying he did not want his name on the arrest report, according to the student.

He told me that he had not arrested Wilson because he was a football player, and he did not want to ruin his record by arresting him if there was a chance he might be innocent, the student wrote.