Stall Out

While some people are more dismayed that Michael Vick has been given a second chance in the National Football League after actually serving time for his criminal transgressions, it was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and not the law, who laid a heavy hand on Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver Donte Stallworth.

Yesterday Stallworth, who pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter after mowing down 59-year-old Mario Reyes in Miami on March 14 while intoxicated, was suspended without pay for an entire season. The 28-year-old wide receiver was sentenced to 24-days in jail and reached an undisclosed financial settlement with Reyes’ family who was leaving his job when killed.

That was not enough for the commissioner who in a letter to Stallworth wrote, “Your conduct endangered yourself and others, leading to the death of an innocent man. The NFL and NFL players must live with the stain that you have placed on their reputations.”

Stallworth’s wallet will also take a hit this year as he is set to lose the remaining $745,000 left on the seven-year, $35 million contract he signed with the Browns in 2008.