State Attorney’s office decides not to charge Florida LB

The Florida State attorney’s office has decided not to charge Florida’s Antonio Morrison after the talented linebacker was arrested for barking at a police dog on Saturday night, according to Gator Nation.

Yes, we’re serious. To misquote Snoop Doggy Dogg – barking at a police dog was the case that they gave him.

“To be fair, law enforcement officers are not lawyers or fully aware of what the courts require. Nonetheless, and fair or not, their decisions must meet those standards,” said state attorney William Cervone said, adding that he dropped the charges after seeing the police video. “The charge of interfering with a police animal requires malice, and none exists. lt also requires that the animal be engaged in some official duty, and it cannot be said that sitting in the back of a police cruiser in case he is needed constitutes being engaged in such activity by a police dog. As to the charge of resisting an officer, I challenge anyone who looks at the video of the incident to find any resistance, physical or otherwise, beyond questioning the actions of law enforcement, which is not illegal. Certainly, I see nothing that would allow or persuade a jury to convict.”

What’s interesting about Cervone’s points is that he’s basically undermining the Gainseville police. Morrison was arrested on June 16 for punching a nightclub bouncer after he was refused a discount to get into a bar – that he shouldn’t have been in bearing in mind that he was underage in the first place. Morrison got probation and community service.

BOTTOM LINE: Now, has he learned his lesson? Probably not. It might be in Antonio Morrison’s interest- and that of the Florida Gators – if they put him on curfew until the season ends. Because if I’m a betting man, Antonio Morrison’s career – he had 34 total tackles and a sack in his first year with the Gators – won’t last long in Gainseville. And no-one wants to see that.