Maurice Clarett gets busted....AGAIN!

[Shaun J]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2544230

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Maurice Clarett was charged with carrying a concealed weapon after a highway chase early Wednesday that ended with police using Mace on the former Ohio State running back and finding four loaded guns in his sport utility vehicle.


Clarett
The Denver Broncos say they tried to reach out to Maurice Clarett during last year's training camp, but the running back turned a cold shoulder.

Clarett, taken in the third round of the 2005 draft, wouldn't let any of his teammates get to know him.

That's one of the reasons the Broncos cut Clarett before he even played a down in the NFL.

To read more about the Broncos' relationship with Clarett, click here.


Officers used Mace to subdue Clarett after a stun gun was ineffective because the former Fiesta Bowl star was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, Sgt. Michael Woods said.

"It took several officers to get him handcuffed," Woods said. "Even after he was placed in the paddy wagon, he was still kicking at the doors and being a problem for the officers."

The complaint police filed when they charged him with carrying a concealed weapon without permit said he had a 9 mm handgun under his legs in the driver's seat of an SUV.

Police also charged him with weaving in and out of lanes on a road before he entered the highway. More charges are possible, Woods said.

Clarett did not speak to police who tried to interview him at the station before he was moved to the Franklin County Jail.

Wearing tan jail-issue clothes, he talked on the telephone in the booking area, separated from reporters by a window. He was to be held at the jail at least until an arraignment Thursday morning -- which is expected to take place between 8 and 11 a.m. ET -- unless his attorneys work out an agreement for his release, police said.

Clarett made an illegal U-turn on the city's east side and failed to stop when officers, in a cruiser with lights flashing, tried to pull him over, Woods said.

Police said they pursued Clarett onto the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70, one of the city's main freeways, when he darted across the median and began heading west. Clarett drove over a spike strip that was placed on the highway, flattening the driver's side tires of the SUV, Woods said. A police helicopter in the area helped track the vehicle.

Clarett exited the highway and pulled into a restaurant parking lot about 10 minutes after police say they saw him make the U-turn. Officers removed him from the SUV after he failed to obey numerous orders to exit the vehicle, Woods said.

After Clarett was placed in a police van, officers discovered a loaded assault rifle on the passenger seat and three handguns in the front of the car, including one in a holster in a backpack on the passenger-side floor.

"We don't have any idea why he had them or what, if anything, he was going to do with them," Woods said. Police don't know where Clarett got the guns or where he was headed or coming from in the SUV. Federal authorities plan to trace the guns' ownership.

A half-full bottle of vodka was found in the SUV, but no breath test was administered because police had no indication that Clarett was intoxicated, Woods said. Police also found a compact disc of children's songs recorded by Ohio prison inmates that the state distributed last month to prisoners and their families.





The 22-year-old Clarett is currently awaiting trial on two counts of aggravated robbery, four counts of robbery and one count of carrying a concealed weapon in a separate case. He appeared at a 4 p.m. ET hearing Wednesday that was scheduled previously in relation to the January robbery case. A motion was made to revoke Clarett's bond in the case. Instead, bond has been raised to $1.1 million. If Clarett can post it, he must stay in Franklin County (the county Columbus is in), provide an address and adhere to a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Authorities said he was identified by witnesses as the person who flashed a gun and robbed two people of a cell phone in an alley behind the Opium Lounge in Columbus in the early hours of Jan. 1.

One of Clarett's attorneys in that case, Nick Mango, said he was going to the jail to see Clarett to "make sure he's OK emotionally and mentally." Clarett has not asked Mango to represent him on the new charges.

"I'm shocked as everyone else is about the allegation," Mango said. "Obviously, he's a young man with a lot of weight on his shoulders."

The home address Clarett gave police was his mother's house in Youngstown. A message seeking comment was left at the home.

Clarett scored the winning touchdown in the second overtime of the Fiesta Bowl against Miami to lead Ohio State to the 2002 national championship, the school's first since 1968. But that was the last game the freshman played for Ohio State.

He sat out the 2003 season after being charged with misdemeanor falsification on a police report, then dropped out of school. He sued to be included in the 2004 NFL draft and lost in court.

A surprise third-round pick in the 2005 draft, he was cut by the Denver Broncos during the preseason.

Clarett plans to play for the Mahoning Valley Hitmen, one of five teams in the Eastern Indoor Football League. The team, based in Clarett's hometown of Youngstown, is to begin play in January.

Hitmen coach and owner Jim Terry said that there was no indication that anything was wrong when he spoke with Clarett by cell phone early Wednesday morning about the team's upcoming tryouts. The call was disconnected around 1 a.m. and Terry missed Clarett's second call about an hour and a half later, which would have been near the time when police say they saw Clarett make a U-turn.

The arrest will not affect Clarett's status with the team, Terry said.

"We gave him a chance and now we'll wait to see what happens," he said. "I've seen far worse situations than this."

Clarett has not signed a contract with the team yet, pending a fire marshal's inspection of the team's home field. Clarett's proposed contract includes attendance incentives which cannot be finalized until the fire marshal determines the capacity of the team's arena.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Emilio]

I saw him run over my Miami Hurricanes in the 2002 national championship I thought he was going to be a great pro. Everything has gone downhill for this guy , who know's what he was going to do with 4 loaded firearm's and a bulletproof vest. Let's hope this guy get's it together.

[Shaun J]

I think he will never play NFL football again. He got busted 3 times in 2 years for stupid stuff that he could have prevented.

[Emilio]

At this rate he might be in jail for a very long time.

[python kid]

Who is maurice clarett?

[brainman1000]

What a horrible waste of great talent. He was practically guaranteed to make it at the professional level and he screwed it all up.

[Shaun J]

Who is maurice clarett?

He's a runningback who used to play for Ohio State. He was really good, but he kept getting himself in trouble.

[Naf Eeknay]

What an idiot. Talk about somebody that had everything and then flushed it all away!!

[Rorryy]

M-O-R-O-N! It never ceases to amaze me the trouble that the gifted get into. A common factor that I have noticed in my dealings with MORONS is that they may have some incredible book smarts or talent but absolutley no concept of "common sense".

I work with Developementally Delayed folks with extreme Community Protection Guidlines and I find more and more that "common sense" is not so common. Not with the clients I provide services for but the employees I supervise!

HELLO HEAVEN!!!

Angela

[ladywhipple02]

Take it from someone who goes to Ohio State and was a freshman the year we steamrolled the Hurricanes (God, that was a great game!)... no one on campus even mentions Clarett anymore. He screwed up BIG-TIME... could've been a legend, you know? One of those guys that OSU alums and fans talk about for generations. But he was so damn cocky, and got too greedy. I mean, the kid wanted to quit school to play the pros a year early. What the hell? College IS about going to school---though we all do so love football And then, when the pros turned him down, stupid idiot had already quit school, and decides to become a gangster. *sigh* It's a terrible blot on my university, and, like I said, it's practically taboo to mention his name.

Now Craig Krenzel... there's a kid that's got his head on straight. Went five years, got a degree in Microbiology, went 14-0 his fourth year, became an OSU legend... and the guy's in the pros now! Doesn't have to be---because, c'mon, with a Microbiology degree, he could've gone anywhere---and STILL has an amazing job lined up if the pros don't work out. Plus, he's marrying a girl that knew him before he was famous. This guy has it all! I wish I had been the girl he knew before he was famous... *sigh*

Sorry for my OSU rant. Lol... just wanted ya'll to know what we think of things.

P.S. Can't WAIT for the season to start. Did ya'll know we're ranked #1 in the Coaches Poll? Texas is #2! (Of course, we're #4 in the BCS... losers).