[CBFF] Friend sought help for Benson -- chicagotribune.com

[Phil DeNomme]

Why didn't she call 911?  LOL.  seems very odd to me.

-----Original Message-----
From: cbff-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com
[mailto:cbff-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com] On Behalf Of Tom Shannon
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 4:38 AM
To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
Subject: [CBFF] Friend sought help for Benson -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-080506-cedric-benson-
chicago-bears,0,1224720,print.story

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-080506-cedric-benson-chicago
-bears,0,2663041.story


  chicagotribune.com


    Friend sought help for Benson


      Concerned for his safety with police, woman phones parents to call 911

By David Haugh

Tribune reporter

12:12 AM CDT, May 7, 2008


A female passenger on Cedric Benson's boat Saturday night in Austin, 
Texas, was concerned enough about his safety after police took him into 
custody to phone her parents and urge them to call 911, the Tribune has 
learned.

"I called my dad and told him, 'Call 911, my black friend is getting 
beaten up by police on Lake Travis,' " said Elizabeth Cartwright, 22, a 
friend of Benson's from the University of Texas. "It's more what I heard 
than what I saw. I have never heard or seen Cedric that scared."

Cartwright put in writing her version of the events on Lake Travis that 
resulted in Benson being charged with boating while intoxicated and 
resisting arrest.

She says she is willing to submit her document as evidence supporting 
his account. She said her fiance also took dozens of photographs that 
help corroborate her claims.

In a 45-minute phone interview, she explained that she chose to come 
forward because of concerns that Benson's reputation was being "tainted" 
by accounts of the incident.

Benson faces a May 19 court date on the misdemeanor charges but was 
informed Tuesday that his lawyer can represent him.

He was back Tuesday at Halas Hall for a two-hour visit and already has 
shared with friends, including Cartwright, his desire to file a lawsuit 
against Travis County authorities based on his treatment during the arrest.

"We're not asking to be treated better, but we don't want to be treated 
worse, either, because of who Cedric is," Benson's lawyer, Brian Carney, 
said Tuesday night.

Cartwright, an English major at the University of Texas who is to 
graduate later this month, estimated she and her fiance had been boating 
with Benson six times this spring and each time a Lower Colorado River 
Authority boat pulled them over for a safety check.

There were about 15 people on the boat, including Benson's mother, 
Jackie, who had spent much of the evening swimming in a part of the lake 
known as Devil's Cove. Just when the group had decided to head back to 
shore around 9:30 p.m. and go out to dinner, a patrol boat stopped to 
conduct a random check.

According to Cartwright, she had consumed one beer and Benson had two 
drinks.

"I know Cedric and I don't think he was drunk," Cartwright said.

The arrival of LCRA police perturbed Benson because of the frequency of 
the checks on his 30-foot boat, Cartwright said.

When Benson's boat passed the safety inspection, Cartwright said she and 
her fiance were surprised the officer then required a sobriety test for 
Benson.

"We were all like, 'Why?' " she said.

After an officer led Benson to the LCRA boat for the test, the second 
officer left behind on Benson's boat assured a nervous Jackie Benson 
that her son would be fine, Cartwright recalled.

A few minutes later, Cartwright said she heard Benson begin to scream 
after the officer pepper-sprayed him in the eye. By the time Benson was 
in handcuffs, he was screaming, "Please stop, Mom, make them please stop."

Cartwright disputed that Benson was resisting arrest.

Panicked, Cartwright called her father, Jeff, to give him a description 
of the physical way she saw her friend being treated and told him to 
call 911.

Unaware the friend in question was Benson, Jeff Cartwright called 911 
and told the dispatcher that police "were beating up a black kid on Lake 
Travis."

A Travis County spokesman wouldn't confirm or deny Tuesday night that a 
911 call had been placed regarding the incident. An affidavit the LCRA 
filed described Benson as cocky, smelling strongly of alcohol and 
needing to be removed forcibly from the boat and eventually falling to 
the ground.

Benson claimed police kicked his feet out from under him, causing him to 
fall awkwardly. When Benson got up, Cartwright remembers him sitting in 
a squad car surrounded by six officers.

"In the weakest voice, Cedric said to me and my fiance, 'Help me get out 
of here,' " Cartwright said. "He was so scared."

dhaugh at tribune.com <mailto:dhaugh at tribune.com>

Copyright C 2008, Chicago Tribune <http://www.chicagotribune.com/>


-- 
Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of
immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
  - Edith Wharton


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