Rapid post-arrest return stirs debate
COLLEGE STATION — Tonny Trocha-Morelos checked out of jail about 60 hours before he checked into the second half of Texas A&M’s victory over LSU on Tuesday night at Reed Arena.
University police had arrested Trocha-Morelos, 21, in the early hours of Sunday morning near the Northgate bar district on charges of driving while intoxicated. An officer had pulled him over as Trocha-Morelos was driving with his headlights off, according to a probable cause statement. The Aggies had arrived back in town earlier that night from a 34-point win at Georgia, and TrochaMorelos and others apparently did what many collegians do: They went
out and about.
“He’s never done anything wrong since he’s been in this program,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “Until now. Believe me, he hurts more than most.”
The degree of TrochaMorelos’ wrongness is what’s at issue, especially after the lithe 6-10 center played eight minutes and scored two points in the No. 10 Aggies’ 71-57 whipping of LSU before a record crowd of 13,888 fans at Reed. Many of them cheered loudly when Trocha-Morelos checked into the game three minutes into the second half with the Aggies clinging to a two-point lead at 44-42.
So how exactly does one go about exiting Brazos County’s version of Sing Sing to singing the Aggie War Hymn before an adoring crowd so quickly? It’s based on an old American legal adage that can be forgotten among those already calling for a tarring — or at least a prolonged benching of Trocha-Morelos:
Innocent until proven guilty.
When Kennedy said Trocha-Morelos had done something wrong, he meant climbing behind a wheel with even an ounce of alcohol in his system, something Trocha-Morelos has admitted to the team.
Outgoing AD weighs in
Whether Trocha-Morelos was wrong legally early Sunday morning is to be determined. After Kennedy consulted with the athletic department, including outgoing athletic director Eric Hyman, Trocha-Morelos sat out Tuesday’s first half but still earned a little playing time in the second half. Hyman’s replacement, former Washington Huskies athletic director Scott Woodward, has not yet taken over the department.
“We’re letting the system take its course,” said Bryan attorney Mark Maltsberger, who is representing Trocha-Morelos. “We’re awaiting additional information. You can’t go and punish somebody for something that hasn’t been proved. All there is right now is probable cause. There’s a big difference between probable cause and proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
In addition, A&M has taken painstaking steps in recent years to ensure students are afforded due process. That process is underway in regard to Trocha-Morelos, who was arrested by university police. Maltsberger said his side has yet to receive police video of the event — he said that’s not unusual and that it might arrive next week — and that the results of a voluntary blood test might still be about six weeks away.
The arresting officer wrote in the probable cause statement that “the defendant was intoxicated as evidenced by the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, glassy eyes, poor balance and difficulty following simple instructions.”
Regarding at least the last matter, TrochaMorelos is a Colombia native who has spoken only broken English for a few years, and he was driving alone at the time of the arrest.
“For someone who speaks English as a second language like Tonny and you’re in a stressful situation when you’re doing those field sobriety tests, something like (the alphabet) would be difficult for anybody with English as their second language,” Maltsberger contended.
The attorney emphasized that the two big things they’re waiting on before deciding their next course of action is the arrest video and blood-test results.
“Tonny did consent to a blood draw,” Maltsberger said. “There was not a warrant required. He allowed the blood to be drawn and was cooperative with the officer.”
Brief suspension
It all adds up to this for a key player in the rotation of the 16-2 Aggies, in first place in Southeastern Conference action with a 6-0 record: sitting out the first half against LSU, as per athletic department request, for putting himself in that position in the first place.
As for his being innocent until possibly found otherwise? The system is taking its course, Kennedy has weighed the scant evidence he and others have been able to collect at this early point, and Tonny Trocha-Morelos plays on.