A Not So Smooth Not So Criminal

By definition Plaxico Burress is a criminal. He committed a crime. A victim-less crime (outside of himself), but a crime none-the-less. As a matter of fact he's worse than that: he's a felon. He committed and was convicted of, or, in his case plead guilty to a felony crime. However Plaxico Burress doesn't pass the eye test for a criminal. Nor does he pass the logic test to be convicted. Sure he broke the law, but so did you this morning. You know you didn't stay under the speed the limit the ENTIRE way to wherever you were going. Now is bringing a loaded weapon into a crowded nightclub in New York the same as you doing 5 over on your way to work? Of course not. But the laws against doing both were created for the same reason: because breaking them makes life more dangerous for you and everyone around you.

Burress sat down recently with Jeremy Schaap and did an interview for E:60, ESPN's weekly news magazine and revealed what I found to be some disturbing details about two separate subjects. First he revealed that shooting himself in the leg doesn't even begin to describe how stupid he was that night, and secondly (and more importantly) how he was put through the legal system. Not only did Plax not get the celebrity treatment (see Chris Brown), he was punished for being a celebrity which to me is far worse. However let's start off with a little background information; some of this was known prior to the E:60 piece and simply not mentioned and some which wasn't known at all.

Three days before Plaxico Burress shot himself at the Latin Quarter in New York City, his teammate and friend, Steve Smith, was held up at gunpoint in his housing complex, taken into his house and robbed. Smith came into practice the next day still terrified saying he thought he was going to be murdered. Fast forward three days and Plaxico Burress is sitting at dinner when he gets a call from Ahmad Bradshaw asking if he wants to go into the city that night. Burress says yes and Bradshaw asks if Burress can pick him up. He once again agrees. However Ahmad Bradshaw lives in the same complex as Steve Smith, something Burress knew. Thus after dinner he went home and got his legally registered weapon, knowing he had to pick Bradshaw up and eventually drop him off.

So far Burress hasn't done anything wrong and in fact has probably done the safe thing considering the events of three days prior. However when the two get into the city (along with fellow teammate Antonio Pierce) Burress decides to keep his weapon with him instead of leaving it in his car. The weapon isn't registered in New York City and thus this is technically where Burress breaks the law. However it is his stupidity in making this decision as well as two more that eventually got him not only caught but shot. Burress decided not to use a holster. The most likely reason is its simply cooler to put the gun in your waist band than wear a holster. Schaap asked Burress why he didn't use a holster and his response was simply "bad judgement." What Schaap didn't ask Burress though is a much more obvious question and that is this: "Why wasn't the safety on on your gun?" A safety locks the trigger so that it can't be hit by accident, which is exactly what happened to Burress. The gun started falling down his pants when he missed a step going up a staircase, and he tried to catch it. Instead he hit the trigger firing a bullet into and out of his leg. If the safety is on he doesn't shoot himself. If he's wearing a holster the gun doesn't fall. If he leaves the gun in his car he doesn't have to worry about any of this. Bad decisions, bad judgement, or pure stupidity: whatever you call it it doesn't exactly make you feel sorry for Plax.

That being said, Plaxico Burress wasn't tried in a court of law no matter who from the District Attorney's office in New York says he was. He was tried in the court of public opinion and the sole judge and jury was Mayor Michael Bloomberg. After the incident, Burress and whoever the power that is that sets bond had agreed on $10,000. As Burress was preparing to enter the courtroom, Mayor Bloomberg spoke at a press conference stating that Burress should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Burress's bond magically jumped to $250,000. Burress's fate was also sealed as he told Schaap: "I was going to prison."

This to me is not only shameful on the part of Mayor Bloomberg and the District Attorney's office but short-sighted and non-beneficial. Plaxico Burress going to prison for 2 years does no good to anybody. Plaxico Burress going to prison for 90 days and spending the rest of his life going to schools and youth gatherings talking about gun safety does. Here was someone that did everything right in the process. He bought his gun legally. He registered it. However he didn't use it properly and brought it to the wrong place and it cost him a bullet-hole in his leg and millions of dollars in lost salary. You don't think that would have an effect on a kid who wants to pack heat? Then maybe this will.

Plaxico Burress was less than 1 cm away from dying. Burress is 6'5". Let me repeat: he was less than 1 cm away from death. The bullet that shot through Plax's leg missed the femoral artery by, according to Burress, a matter of millimeters. If a tale of jail time and a lost fortune doesn't scare a kid out of improperly using a gun, maybe a tale of a nearly lost life will. I mean really, how much closer can you get? A tale of a lost life simply can't be told by he person who didn't survive to tell it.

Plaxico Burress was an idiot. He shot himself in the leg because the safety wasn't on on the gun he shouldn't have that wasn't in the holster he also wasn't wearing. That being said Burress has not only realized his horrible mistakes but he's learned from them. The same can not be said for Michael Bloomberg and the District Attorney's office of New York City. I hope they do realize their mistake and change it, and I have a deadline in mind: Thanksgiving. No I don't care if Plax sees Charley Brown float over Times Square in the Macy's Parade. I care about something much more important. Something that brought a 6'5", Super Bowl champion to tears: the birth of his daughter.

Plaxico Burress is by definition a criminal. The crime he committed had no victims other than himself. Michael Bloomberg by definition was attempting to do his job as the mayor of New York. His attempt had many victims, none of which include himself. They do however include a daughter who won't know her father for the first 18 months of her life. Who's the criminal now?