Former MLB hopeful blames corrupt officer for missed dream

Imagine being in your senior year of college as a talented baseball player. Major League Baseball recruiters have come to see you play, and teams such as the Baltimore Orioles and the Colorado Rockies are seriously looking at adding you to their professional teams. It’s a hardworking baseball player’s biggest dream.

One young man was reportedly on that edge of glory in 2005, until his long-awaited dream was interrupted by a false assault allegation. That young man is now a bit more grown up and reportedly relieved to see that the officer responsible for his lost MLB dream has been arrested himself.

He says he was in the area where an assault supposedly took place in New York, when the officer arrested him without much cause. The man suspects that the officer picked him out because he is black. “I was completely innocent,” says the vindicated assault suspect. But his innocence didn’t change things when it came to his dream to become an MLB pro.

The arrest resulted in him being unable to play on his college team during the end of his senior year. Any MLB courting that might have begun before the arrest was soon all only a bittersweet memory for the hopeful young man. And now, the police officer who arrested him might be saying goodbye to his post in law enforcement. He’s accused of targeting a different black man with false evidence.

Criminal charges aren’t to be taken lightly. This story shows how even an accusation of a crime can significantly limit a person’s life options.

Source

New York Daily News: “Racist NYPD cop ruined my life and ended my major-league dream, Jared Williams says,” John Marzulli, Oct. 19, 2011