Shawne Merriman and Tila Tequila (Nguyen) (Getty Images)
Deputies arrested San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman early Sunday morning for allegedly choking and restraining his MTV star girlfriend as she tried to leave his Poway home.
The Sheriff’s Department said Merriman’s girlfriend, Tila Tequila, 27, signed a citizen’s arrest complaint, charging him with battery and false imprisonment. Both are felonies.Deputies responded to a disturbance call at Merriman’s home near the intersection of Sage Crest and Oak Knoll drives about 3:45 a.m. Tequila, whose real name is Tila Nguyen, told deputies she had been choked, thrown to the ground and physically restrained by Merriman when she tried to leave.
[…]Merriman is returning to the field this season after missing nearly all of the 2008 campaign because of a major knee injury. He has not had any past run-ins with the law, but he did serve a four-game suspension in 2006 for testing positive for steroids.
via Chargers’ Merriman arrested; battery of girlfriend alleged.
Some pro athletes work so hard to get all of this success and just continue to do things to throw it all away. Most athletes are young, male, super sized and playing sports that require some sort of violence to succeed. I would imagine that much of this sociopathy is unchecked due to consquences for poor behavior being mitigated by professors, families, administrators, coaches, friends of the program and classmates at the high school and college levels who are part of the enabling sports fanatic culture. .
UPDATE: Apparently, not in this case
Apparently not Shawne Merriman. It seems the San Diego County DA didn’t believe Tila Tequila and it that she just wanted to rake Shawne’s name throught the mud to satisfy some drunken jealousy. A true waste of public resource and the reality star that cried wolf. That’s a great precedent for any woman in the future that may actually need protection, health care and law enforcement.
On Tuesday, TMZ revealed photos of Merriman and Tequila at a San Diego bar on Saturday night. Tequila denied drinking that night, but the owner of the establishment said his employees saw her drinking. — Sean Leahy