Michael Bennett’s first day in custody didn’t last long.
The traded Seahawk posted a $10,000 bond a few hours after a Harris County (Texas) judge set it, and after Bennett surrendered to authorities in Texas Monday on a felony charge of abusing an elderly security woman at last year’s Super Bowl in Houston.
Judge Robert Johnson presided over a brief hearing for Bennett Monday afternoon. The three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, whom Seattle traded to the Philadelphia Eagles this month, asked that he not be handcuffed. The judge refused Bennett’s request. He said he could not give preferential treatment and that Bennett needed to follow normal court protocol for a defendant who’s been indicted on a felony charge.
Bennett, wearing a black cardigan sweater over a buttoned-up, white dress shirt and accompanied by his Houston-based attorney Rusty Hardin, was handcuffed after the hearing and after he left the courtroom. He was then fingerprinted and taken to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Harris County court records show Bennett posted the $10,000 bond late Monday afternoon.
He was free to go. For now.
Judge Johnson said he will allow Bennett to go back to his offseason home in Hawaii after he posts bail while his case continues in Texas, near where he went to high school.
Court records shows the next hearing on Bennett’s case is scheduled for April 23. That’s one week after the Eagles and every other team with a returning head coach can begin hosting formal offseason workouts for players.
Prosecutors allege the 32-year-old Bennett injured the shoulder of a 66-year-old woman, a paraplegic, by shoving past her to get to his brother Martellus moments after Martellus won Super Bowl 51 with the New England Patriots on Feb. 7, 2017, in Houston.
The charge of abuse of the elderly in Texas carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
A league source told The News Tribune the Seahawks did not know of the alleged incident involving Bennett until the grand jury’s indictment of him became public Friday.
The Eagles believe that.
“He didn’t do it,” Hardin told reporters Monday, off a live television feed from Houston station KTRK broadcast nationally via CNN. “Michael did not assault this lady … Michael never touched her.”
Eagles executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman defended Bennett’s right to due process and the presumption of innocence on Monday while speaking to reporters at the NFL owners’ meetings in Orlando, Florida.
“I think we’re in a great country,” Roseman said, according to the Allentown (Penn.) Morning Call. “And in this country, people are presumed innocent. And I think we’ve got to be fair about that in all these matters. I don’t think it’s fair in any situation to not give people the right to present their side. I don’t want to get into this, but our overriding philosophy on things are that people are innocent until proven guilty.”
Roseman also said he and the Eagles do not believe the Seahawks knew about Bennett’s alleged incident or withheld any information on him before they traded him to Philadelphia on March 7.
“I want to be clear: There’s probably not a person — and I’m going to put him on the same ground as a bunch of people — that we trust more than (GM) John Schneider and the Seahawks,” Roseman told reporters in Orlando. “So there is nothing that we felt like they did wrong, or there is any blame in this matter. It’s a unique circumstance and we’ll deal with it as we go.”
The chief of the Houston police department read a statement during a press conference on Bennett’s indictment Friday.
“Mr. Bennett forcibly opened the locked doors (of tunnels leading to the field) even though security stated he did not have access to the tunnels to get to the field,” Chief Art Acevado said. “In an attempt to force his way and push his way to the field, again, Mr. Bennett forcibly open locked doors, he pushed back one female, 28 years of age, a white female 28 years of age, and pushed back another male individual. Mr. Bennett then went up to a 66-year-old black female employee again of the NRG, a paraplegic, and pushed her. Mr. Bennett’s assault on this individual actually caused injury, according to her medical records a sprain of her shoulder.”
Chief Acevado said Bennett disregarded the command of a Houston police officer working security at the game who witnessed the incident. The chief added Bennett told the officer “(Expletive) you, and walked past him onto the field.”
Seattle signs Stephen
The NFL’s official transactions for Monday showed what the Seahawks had already announced: They signed free-agent defensive tackle Shamar Stephen.
He gets a one-year contract — just as his teammate on the Vikings’ defensive line last season, Tom Johnson, got from Seattle on Friday.
Stephen, 27, made 16 starts for Minnesota in 2016 then only one last season when Johnson, seven years older, emerged in the center of the Vikings’ front.
Rams, Suh agree to terms
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams have agreed to a one-year contract with Ndamukong Suh, adding the dominant tackle to their defensive front alongside All-Pro Aaron Donald.
The Rams announced the deal Monday.
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