Saturday evening was not a good one for St. Louis Rams running back Tre Mason.
According to ESPN, Mason was pulled over by police in Hollywood, Florida after an officer observed him driving twice the 35 mph speed limit. Mason reportedly hesitated to pull over at first and then refused to provide his name or driver’s license. The officer smelled marijuana in the vehicle and attempted to arrest Mason, who resisted, prompting the officer to subdue him with a stun gun. Via ESPN:
The officer says he then told Mason he was under arrest and asked him to exit the vehicle, but, according to the police report, Mason refused and tried to “brace himself” inside the car and showed “great resistance” when officers tried to pull him out. The officer says Mason was given several warnings before “a Taser was utilized on the driver to subdue him.”
Mason was taken into custody, and then taken to a local hospital for medical clearance.
Mason has been charged with resisting arrest without violence, reckless driving, possessing less than 20 grams of cannabis and failure to register a vehicle, according to ABC.
It should be interesting to find out what exactly Mason did to warrant being tased, given that he is charged with resisting arrest without violence.
Mason was a third-round draft pick of the Rams in 2014 and had an impressive rookie season, rushing for 765 yards and four touchdowns. But Mason’s production fell off in 2015 with the emergence of Todd Gurley, and this was supposed to be a somewhat few months for his career. From ESPN:
At last month’s NFL scouting combine, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said this would be an important offseason for Mason.
“Tre has got to have a great offseason program,” Fisher said. “That, in itself, is going to be a challenge for us because it’s going to take place out in Southern California. We’re expecting, hoping, that everybody comes in. We drafted Tre for a reason. When you look at that position, when you’re talking about Todd and Tre and then Benny [Cunningham], I think that’s as good a group as you’ll find in the league, from a depth standpoint. Then the difference [is] their abilities and what they do. I think Tre realizes he has to put the commitment in, wherever he is, and have a great preseason.”
Getting arrested and tased probably wasn’t how Mason wanted to begin his campaign for more carries.
