Learns lesson: don’t give fake ID to police
Heisman-Trophy winning quarterback Johnny Manziel pleaded guilty on Monday to a misdemeanor charge of failing to identify himself to a police officer when he was arrested last year in College Station, Texas. The two remaining charges against him, possession of a fake ID and disorderly conduct, were both dismissed.
Johnny Manziel will pay a maximum fine of $2,000, spend two days in jail and pay $232 in court costs. He won’t face any prison time because he was jailed by College Station police after his arrest.
“He took responsibility for his actions that night and is ready to put what happened that night behind him,” said Manziel’s attorney, Cam Reynolds.
Manziel was arrested in the early hours of June 29, 2012, after being involved in a fight. He was with his friend, who pointed at a black man and made a racial slur. Manziel’s friend and the man began fighting, and when Manziel tried to intervene he got involved in the fight as well.
The police arrived and, when asked to produce identification, Manziel gave the police officer an ID that displayed a 1990 birth date. Police checked his wallet and discovered another fake as well as his real license, showing his actual birthday to be in 1992.
This arrest threatened to end Johnny Manziel’s 2012 college football season before it began. He was suspended by Texas A&M for what was originally supposed to be the entire year, but the coach appealed the decision and he was reinstated during fall camp. Luckily for him, too, because he went on to become the first ever freshman in college football history to win the Heisman Trophy.
This is all great news for Johnny Manziel, because his fine and jail time aren’t nearly what they could be if the other charges hadn’t been dropped. Plus, he still has the Heisman Trophy. Let’s just hope that this is a lesson for all college students: think twice before you hand over the wrong ID to the cops.
