NFL’s Jonathan Dwyer Arrested & ‘Django Unchained’ Actress Racially Profiled?

The NFL’s Jonathan Dwyer is the latest troubled athlete in the league to be accused of domestic violence after being arrested for allegedly breaking his wife’s nose while head-butting her in a fight during one of two alleged domestic abuse incidents recently reported to police by his wife.

Criminal defense attorney Mike Cavalluzzi discusses the NFL’s reaction to the latest abuse allegation, and also provides reaction to Django Unchained actress Danielle Watts, who alleges that she was mistreated by police who accused her of being a prostitute engaging in a lewd act in public.

Cavalluzzi spoke about the reaction of the NFL, which has already deactivated the Arizona Cardinals player, preventing him from playing in games following his arrest.

“They should allow these charges to play out in the criminal courts, and see what the result of the criminal charges are before really taking action,” he said. “I think it’s extremely dangerous for the NFL to be suspending players based merely on an allegation of criminal conduct.”

He added: “I think it not only runs the risk of really damaging, disrupting and destroying someone’s career that they’ve worked really hard to build. But also it exposes the NFL to potential civil liability down the line, if the allegations are proven to be false.”

Cavalluzzi said that in the case of Adrian Peterson, he’s already 29 years old, with limited career potential from here on out. “There is a significant change in a running back at the age of 30, people have been talking about this before his season even started – that Adrian Peterson was on a (career) ticking clock.”

It is discussed whether the abuse allegations against Peterson - who admitted disciplining his 4-year-old son with a stick - are valid, or simply his own approach to punishment. “I don’t know that you can take the situation with Adrian Peterson and say that he’s a child abuser. He’s a person who went too far with his child – that doesn’t necessarily merit the label of being an abusive parent,” Cavalluzzi said.

“There are real cultural divides here. If you talk to people in the South, they feel very differently about corporal punishment on children, and when you talk to people in the North.”

In states like California, corporal punishment is allowed, but not if injuries occur, at which time it becomes a crime “When you specifically talk to African Americans, they feel different about corporal punishment than other cultures might, and you need to recognize that,” Cavalluzzi said.

“I refuse to believe that it is helpful for (the victims) to see the parent or see their spouse or their loved one plastered across TV, labeled as an abuser. Is it newsworthy, yes. Is it something to be discussed, yes. But there should be some sensitivity to family members and children before we start labeling this people with these pop psychology labels.”

The defense attorney says that while star athletes aren’t better than ordinary people, he does believe they are held to a higher standard.

Despite his personal enthusiasm for the Minnesota Vikings and being a big fan of Peterson, he states, “I have a problem with his conduct – I understand that it’s newsworthy, I understand that he needs to be held up as some time of example… I don’t think he needs to be suspended based on this one incident. I don’t think his career needs to be ruined, I don’t think endorsements need to be pulled.”

The discussion also focuses on the alleged racial profiling case of Django Unchained actress Danielle Watts, who claims that she was recently detained by police on a Studio City, CA street simply for showing her white boyfriend affection in public.

Watts said that police accused her of being a prostitute and her boyfriend the customer after receiving a complaint by a passerby in the neighborhood of an act of indecent exposure.

Police say they put Watts in handcuffs because she refused to show ID and video shot by her boyfriend throughout the incident seem to bear this out.

Cavallucci says that when police arrived on the scene, they had not actually seen any crime taking place. Rather, they were purely relying on an allegation of lewd conduct alleged by the person who reported the incident by calling 911.

Despite the fact that many people would say that Watts should have just complied with the request to provide ID, Cavallucci believes that since police didn’t view any direct evidence of a crime taking place, they should not have detained her. “She has the right to refuse as she did and the police should have just let her go,” he said.