Alabama football’s defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand was charged with a DUI for sleeping in his car last week, while intoxicated, with the keys in the ignition.
By state law, having the keys in the ignition is all that’s required in order to be charged with a DUI in Alabama, even if the vehicle isn’t being operated. But head coach Nick Saban won’t punish his star defensive lineman any further. Instead, Da’Shawn Hand will be forced to do community service and, wait for it, go on ride-around’s with local police.
So basically Hand will do his best Kevin Hart impression and ride along with the cops, minus Ice Cube. Saban’s rightly disappointed with Hand for putting himself in that situation, but also because of the situation it puts the team in.
Have you seen the Crimson Tide’s schedule? To start the season, Alabama travels to Atlanta for the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game against Florida State. Are you connecting the dots yet?
An 8 p.m. kickoff on ABC for the season opener against (another) national powerhouse, and the Tide’s best defensive lineman is sitting out due to suspension? Yeah right. That sounds like a corny joke Hart would tell. Saban has his reasons for not suspending the young man, whether they’re valid or not is a different story.
"“Rather than worry about the punishment part of it, we put him in 48-hour inpatient for assessment purposes,” said Saban. “Professional people assess what he needs to do, what we need to do with him and that’s what we will do with him.”"
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It’s hard for me to believe Saban would’ve reacted the same way if a non-essential player would’ve done what Hand did. I don’t want the kid to go to prison, and standing up for his players is part of the job, but Saban should reconsider if not suspending Hand actually helps the young man.