Seahawks Insider
where there is no offseason

Eric D. Williams took over the Seahawks beat and Seahawks Insider blog in December. Williams has covered the Seahawks, Sonics and high school sports for The News Tribune since joining the paper in 2006. Eric lives in Tacoma with his wife and two children.

Tacoma News Tribune columnist Dave Boling also contributes to the Seahawks Insider blog.

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Seahawks Insider
Monday, June 9th, 2008
Posted by Frank Hughes @ 03:09:53 pm

By Frank Hughes
Frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com

KIRKLAND – Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu has officially been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, for which he was arrested on May 10.
Tatupu has an arraignment hearing in Kirkland Municipal Court on June 17 at 8:45 a.m.
His attorney, Jon Fox, was not immediately available for comment. Tatupu practiced with the team at Monday’s morning’s mini-camp at the team’s practice facility but the team did not make him available for interviews. The Seahawks had no immediate comment.

[More:]

Tatupu was arrested on May 10 after an officer spotted him going more than 15 mph over the 35 mph speed limit at 2 a.m. After some erratic driving, the officer stopped Tatupu in a fast food parking lot.
Tatupu failed three field sobriety tests, refusing to take an on-site portable breath test. At the police station, Tatupu registered a 0.155 and 0.158, almost twice the state limit of 0.08, almost two hours after he was initially spotted speeding.
There was some question about whether Tatupu would be charged because the arresting officer failed to immediately read Tatupu his Miranda Rights, stopping on the side of the road en route to the police station to read him his rights.
Though it took nearly a month to charge Tatupu, that is not an unusual delay for the prosecutor’s office. A spokeswoman for the Kirkland Police Department originally said it would take 30 to 60 days for Tatupu to be charged.
After his arrest, Tatupu issued a statement through the team that read: "I want to apologize to my family, teammates, the Seahawks ownership and organization, and the fans for making a poor decision and putting myself in a bad situation. I take seriously my role as a leader on this team, and in the community, and because of that I'm disappointed and embarrassed by the level of poor judgment I used last weekend. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. This will never happen again, and I hope through hard work on and off the field to begin earning your respect and trust again."
According to the NFL drug policy, Tatupu faces a possible fine of one half of 1/17th of his $520,000 base salary, or about $15,000. He would not face a league-mandated suspension unless he has a second offense.
On March 21 the team announced that it had signed Tatupu to a six-year, $42 million contract extension, at which time Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell said Tatupu was the heart and soul of the team.
END

Categories: Legal system 11 comments

COMMENTS:

whitcomb @ 15:43 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
Oh! One last twist of the knife.
firejimmoradotcom @ 16:11 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
Warren Moon slams fist onto table!
LAHawk @ 16:14 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
No need to worry about Tatupu he is a class guy.

...kinda on the same subject - now that Benson has been released by Chicago (partly due to his DWI's) is Sean Alexander going to be moving to the Windy City?
Ray @ 18:50 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
The Shaun Alexander situation is so interesting.

a) Doesn't ANYBODY want this guy? Is he really that washed up? or

b) Is he so delusional that he's still asking for superstar money?

If he's that washed up, he should continue to live in Seattle and enjoy his retirement walking around at the local malls signing autographs, and doing used car commercials.

If he still thinks he's a superstar, he's delusional and should be on the next NASA rocketship to Mars to live out his days with all of his little green friends.
nidhighe @ 19:32 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
Ray, I think it's a combination of A and B.
JustaFan @ 20:01 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
Don't forget teams want players like Sean as cheap as they can get them. They can afford to wait just to avoid the most salary possible, especially on a running back. Alexander can afford to wait as well, then pick the desperate team of his chosing. He was good to Seahawks fans more than he was disappointing. I hope he does well whatever the future holds for him.
tp10super @ 23:17 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
I have a court case in the same courtroom at the same time that day....probably not the right time to ask for an autograph right??
williambryan @ 23:34 - Monday, June 9th, 2008 Email
Shaun, and teams, are waiting for an injury that always happens. One sarter goes down and Shaun will get the call.
madpunter88 @ 08:04 - Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 Email
tp10super-
Wear a "Free Lofa" t-shirt to court. That will go over well with the judge.
Tuffgal74 @ 10:16 - Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 Email
He's got the same attorney as Rocky Bernard. He's a big hot-shot DUI attorney. Well known in the state...and in my family! :)
ProblemSolved @ 12:29 - Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 Email
Again, how does anyone know if Tatupu is a "class act"??? All you know of him is that he plays football, plays very well, and was popped on a DUI charge. None of those things leads to the conclusion that he's a "class act". At best, he's nice to reporters, that is all.

Alexander would not fit in well in Chicago since they don't seem like the sort of fans that would take kindly to his "three steps and a fall backwards into the pile" running style.

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