Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Williams continues to put the old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity to a stern test.
Williams’ 2013 season ended early because of injury, but he keeps popping up in the headlines for things that aren’t doing much for his reputation. He was arrested in December on trespassing and criminal mischief charges and agreed to pay more than $43,000 in damages to the landlord of his rental home, two things which led coach Lovie Smith to call Williams’ pattern of behavior “disturbing.” Williams was also stabbed in the thigh by his brother recently and now there’s a lawsuit related to those home damages for Williams to deal with.
Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times reports that United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. is seeking $54,453 in relation to a kitchen fire at Williams’ house last year. Williams is accused of “negligently and carelessly leaving a pan on the stove” and “failing to monitor” it before a fire requiring the intervention of emergency personnel broke out last June.
Williams’ lawyer told the paper that she had not seen the lawsuit and would not make any comment about its particulars at this time. Williams was approved to enter a pretrial intervention program on the December criminal charges last month that should settle the legal side of that issue and it would benefit him to stop popping up in the headlines while the insurance suit makes its way through the system.