Like all persons facing criminal charges, Texans receiver Jaelen Strong is presumed innocent. For Strong, the presumption disappeared quickly.
In the video of Strong’s arrest, the police officer explains the situation bluntly but respectfully -- and Strong quickly admits to having marijuana in his possession.
“One of two ways,” the officer says, via the video obtained by TMZ. “We can play easy [or] play hard. You can give up your marijuana, whoever has it.”
Packers cornerback Damarious Randall denies having marijuana, but then Strong asks for clarification about how things will proceed.
“One of two ways,” the officer reiterates. “We have a canine dog here. We don’t want it to go that route. If you guys give up what you have, and your cooperation will go a long way, we can go that route as well. It smells like it, I know you guys can smell it. We all smell it. So instead of playing games and lying about everything, let’s just own up to it.”
Strong then admits that he has the marijuana, with a fairly unique strategy for trying to downplay the situation.
“It’s not like, it’s already like prepared to like smoke,” Strong says. “They’re joints already rolled, it’s not like weed that’s out.”
Strong then gets out of the car and produces the joints from his pocket.
Whenever the case is resolved, Strong likely will be suspended for one game, the going rate in the NFL for marijuana possession charges. At his 2016 base salary of $570,000, that’s a $33,529.41 joint.
Strong also will undoubtedly be placed in Stage One of the substance-abuse program (if he wasn’t already in the program), which could set him up for additional punishment if there are additional violations. Randall’s presence with Strong in a vehicle that strongly smelled of marijuana could result in Randall also being placed in Stage One, since behavior can result in scrutiny even without a positive test.