Buffalo Bills Rumors: LeSean McCoy May End Up Avoiding Charges After Alleged Assault On Off-Duty Police Officers
The Buffalo Bills may have caught a break, with rumors that LeSean McCoy may find his way out of trouble after an alleged assault in Philadelphia.
McCoy and a group of friends were at a Philadelphia nightclub in the hours after the Super Bowl when a fight broke out with a group of off-duty police officers. The fight allegedly stemmed from an argument over a bottle of champagne, with McCoy’s group reportedly under investigation for a beating that sent the police officers to the hospital.
There is some pressure from the law enforcement community in Philadelphia to charge McCoy. John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, claimed that LeSean McCoy “sucker punched” the officer to spark the brawl. McNesby did not cite where the information came from, but to this point there were no details about McCoy’s exact role or how the fight started.
McNesby said that McCoy should be facing serious charges after the brawl.
“This wasn’t just an assault, this was an aggravated assault,” McNesby said, based on the officers’ injuries from the fight. “So this just wasn’t a pushing and shoving match where you’re separated and off you go. This was serious.”
There could be some pushback, however. Seth Williams, the district attorney in Philadelphia, is not in a hurry to bring charges against LeSean McCoy and released a statement on Friday saying that he won’t bow down to outside pressure to bring charges quickly.
Report: Philly D.A. "pushing back" on charging LeSean McCoy https://t.co/7kOeOh4GZB
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 18, 2016
“The people of Philadelphia elected me to charge the right people with the right crimes nothing more and nothing less,” Williams said in the statement, via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. “My only goal is to get it right, not fast. The last thing we need is a rush to judgment.”
It seemed last week as if charges against LeSean McCoy would be imminent, but new revelations indicate that McCoy may not be charged. As Yahoo Sports reported, there are some serious questions about the role of the officers involved.
“There was a report last week that a warrant would be issued, but that didn’t happen. CSN Philly reported Thursday that the DA is pushing back against charging McCoy, “because it has questions about the conduct of the officers that evening, including that the officers did not call 9-1-1 during the incident and whether they were drinking to excess.” The CSN Philly report said tensions are rising between the district attorney’s office and the Philadelphia Police Department because of the delay in charging McCoy and three others who were allegedly involved in a fight in the early morning hours of Feb. 7.”
If the rumors are true, it could be a huge boost to the Buffalo Bills. While LeSean McCoy may still face some kind of discipline for his role in the fight, if he can avoid a long suspension it would go a long way for a team that has crafted a run-first identity. The Bills found some solid backfield depth in Karlos Williams and Mike Gillislee, but leaned on McCoy last year and were a much different team with him in the lineup. If the team has hopes of ending its 16-year playoff drought, LeSean McCoy would need to be an important part of it.
[Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images]
