Mike Brown may have avoided drafting Aaron Hernandez. But Brown used a supplemental draft pick on linebacker Ahmad Brooks. And Brown likely is glad Brooks no longer is with the team.
According to Tracey Kaplan of the San Jose Mercury News, the Santa Clara District Attorney currently is considering whether to charge Brooks after he allegedly assaulted a 49ers teammate with a beer bottle last month.
Nose tackle Lamar Divens required three stitches after Brooks hit Divens three times in the head and punched Divens in the face after an argument over car keys. Divens thought Brooks was too drunk to drive, and Brooks violently disagreed.
Per the report, Brooks yelled to Divens while striking him, “Do I need to get my [expletive] gun?”
Divens initially wanted to press charges, but he has since changed his mind, telling police that pushing the issue “would be bad for both of their careers.”
Two other unnamed (for now) 49ers players witnessed the June 8 attack, and they have given recorded statements to police.
Initially, a felony arrest warrant was sought and signed by a judge. Then, higher ranking officials in the prosecutor’s office intervened. A debate has unfolded over the question of whether Brooks should be charged with a felony or a misdemeanor -- or possibly not at all.
The delay is described by the report as “unusual,” given that the Santa Clara D.A. has a reputation for being the toughest of all Bay Area law-enforcement offices.
Whatever the outcome, here’s hoping that political concerns relating to the impending relocation of the team from San Francisco to Santa Clara won’t get in the way of justice being done. Divens did what more people should do when friends or colleagues are deemed to be too drunk to drive. If the person who’s too drunk to drive responds to those efforts by beating the crap out of the friend or colleague, that’s not the best way to keep drunks from driving cars on the public roadways.