Athletes immunity under the law

Sunday, September 8, 2024, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was pulled over for reckless driving and was let off with two tickets.

Hill was caught going 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, along with him not wearing a seatbelt. For many, that would result in a loss of their license at minimum, but as a professional athlete, he is let off with a measly 300-dollar fine, and he was allowed to play in his game the same day. This is not a one-time incident either Hill has undergone massive controversy before over his abuse of his wife and kids, and no action was taken by the law or by the NFL.

This is the case for many pro athletes, who will face controversy and see no consequences. A prime example of this is in the case of Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who faced 24 different lawsuits alleging he engaged in sexual misconduct and was never charged criminally. Watson, to this day, starts for the Browns, and signed one of the biggest contracts in NFL history worth 230 million dollars guaranteed.

This “immunity” could be potentially dangerous for many reasons, one of which being the impact it has on the youth and their mentality regarding the law.

Northwest wrestling Coach Chad Vollmecke stated, “We definitely don’t want a generation of kids to believe that your level of accountability is directly connected to your level of skill, talent or financial success. So whatever we got to do to avoid that, I’m here for.”

Another issue in this problem is the lack of accountability taken by the specific leagues to punish these players. In the past decade alone, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL have all suspended countless players for gambling on games. Sometimes, even giving out a lifetime ban, like in the case of Toronto Raptors guard Jontay Porter, who was suspended and banned for gambling on his teams performances. While this is a good thing, it causes many people to question why the leagues take such a hard stance on gambling and yet other, arguably worse, things go free.

A great case of that is with NBA legend Karl Malone. Malone engaged in sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl, even causing her to get pregnant, and yet he faced no punishment from the league and is still commemorated by the NBA.

Many fans of these leagues are calling for the leagues to take charge and punish the players if the law does not, but others argue that without definitive proof, this could end up harming innocent people who are wrongfully accused.

This problem is not just at the professional level, but it also goes down to college and the NCAA. Even in college, these athletes get special treatment, if not from the law, then certainly from their schools and coaches. Such was the case of the Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II, who was arrested with a DUI misdemeanor after being pulled over swerving around the road with open bottles of vodka in his car. Despite this, he has still played every game for the Cowboys, and the school has done nothing. 

Oklahoma State Cowboys’ Head Coach Mike Gundy said, “If there’s any punishment, it’s making him carry the ball 50 times in the first game.” While not every player gets this special treatment, and not every coach gives out this treatment, the select few times it does happen, it gives the whole league and the whole sport a bad look.

This problem is not exclusive to just football and basketball either, it is a prevalent throughout all sports. In wrestling, for instance, an Oklahoma State wrestler, A.J. Ferrari was charged with sexual assualt in 2023. After the allegations, Ferrari then transfered to the University of Iowa to continue wrestling, and like the others faced no repercussion for his actions.

Defensive Coordinator and teacher at Northwest High School Alex Ganske said, “When you get to a situation where there’s allegations that are denied, and there’s no definitive proof because you haven’t had, you know, the legal process play itself out, I understand why. When in their situation, they’re going to say, hey, there’s been nothing that’s proven and nothing’s been ruled.”