Ryan Abbott
Pittsburgh Steelers fans are one of my biggest pet peeves, but nothing bothers me more than when people bring up Ray Lewis being a murderer.
In 1999, the Super Bowl was hosted in San Diego and on that night Ray Lewis, to enjoying his offseason, was with his family in Atlanta, whose team was playing in the big game. After the game, Ray Lewis and a few of his acquaintances, Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley, went to a club in downtown Atlanta—a decision (I bet) Ray wishes he could take back.
It was a rough place to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. The men were walking out of the club and an altercation broke out. Ray’s limousine was the only one in front of the club. Then, out of nowhere, gun shots pierced the air, 14 bullets hit the side of his limousine. When he got back to his hotel, the word on the news was that they were looking for a black limousine in connection to a double homicide; two men were violently stabbed to death.
Ray was falsely accused of double murder. He was arrested in front of all three of his sons, and later said it was one of the hardest things he has ever done to fight for his freedom in front of his family. Lewis said that the first night in jail, a whisper came to his ear, it said: Can you hear me now? He recollects, “That was the only time, the real time I heard God that clearly. That’s when I knew, no matter where I was, no matter how low I had been in my life, by any means necessary, I will prove, not just to myself, but to my family, to my children, to my fans, I have to get something done because if y’all that bold to put my reputation on the line, I’m as bold as you are to fight for it.”
Ray became the state’s number one witness, and pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in what’s known as a plea bargain. He put football before his personal record. If he didn’t agree to the plea bargaining, he wasn’t going to be able to participate in any of the spring training and would miss most, if not all of training camp. So the terms were, once he agreed to the bargaining, he was going to be able to start training with his team a week later. All the accusations stopped and he could go back to what he was focused on: the Super Bowl. He sacrificed some of his reputation to help his team win, and, if he didn’t make that decision, the Ravens would probably never have hoisted a Lombardi Trophy.
People say: How can he not be a criminal if he lied to police and was involved in a murder? Just because he was there doesn’t mean he did it or had anything to do with it, once again he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the state police explicitly screwed up. They tried charging the wrong person, so after they realized what they had done (convincting the wrong person) it was too late to figure out who really did it. The law botched the case and obviously didn’t play enough Clue as a child. They didn’t have an ounce of evidence on Ray Lewis.
During the court case, it was later made known to the jury [after his name was dropped from the charges] that Lewis tried breaking up the fight, not getting involved purposely so he wouldn’t jeopardize his football career. So before people jump to the conclusion, that Ray Lewis is a murderer, they must understand that just because they hear something, doesn’t mean it’s true. Educate yourself, and then you can make your own decisions.
