Leafs player pleads guilty to drunk driving
Mark Bell has plead guilty to charges of drunk driving causing injury and hit and run.
The charges are from an incident in San Jose last September. Bell will be sentenced to 6 months in October, and will serve the sentence at the end of the season.
Hold on….he’s going to be sentenced to 6 months but not served until April at the earliest? Going to jail is never a good thing, but what a sweet deal to say “Yeah, I’m not really available until this spring….”
This man has plead guilty to a crime. He has admitted to driving while drunk, hurting another person and fleeing. This is not his first or even second offense. He told Leafs’ GM John Ferguson he hoped it would “take care of itself”. This man should not be allowed to continue to make his millions on the ice as long as his confessed crime has gone unpunished.
Celebrities and other well-known figures get special treatment — there’s no denying that. And it could be argued that Bell’s jail time could have a negative impact on the team itself (Bell was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs over the summer), but that’s something the team needs to address and deal with.
Tell me this… you think Bell is going to a focused player come the end of the season? Do you think his mind is going to be on making the playoffs or winning the Stanley Cup?
Or is he going to be focusing too hard on what he’s got lined up when his season ends? How much distraction could his pending jail time cause the team?
What if the Leafs (God forbid) win the Cup? Does he show up for jail the next day?
Players have missed seasons or parts of seasons for a lot less serious matters than this. Bell should serve his time now, like anyone else would have to, and then be ready to focus on his team when they need him the most.
Mark Bell, San Jose, Toronto Maple Leafs
November 6th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
[...] completed his 15-game suspension for drinking and driving, Bell is full of vim and vigor and ready to take on the league powerhouse Ottawa [...]