On Sunday night at about 7pm at a blackjack table in the Palms casino a brawl broke out between NFL’s Miami Dolphin Linebacker Joey Porter and Cincinnati Bengals Offensive Lineman Levi Jones, sources from the hotel say. There were many witnesses to the incident. Joey Porter is supposed to have hit Levi Jones in the face at a blackjack table. The Las Vegas Review-Journal broke the news first thing this morning according to the Las Vegas police blotta report. And while the story hasn’t picked up a national loop as of yet, CBSsportline has picked up the report, as well as the Cincinnati Enquirer whose sports editor called the Cincinnati Bengals public relations director Jack Brennan first thing this morning and they weren’t aware of their offensive tackle being in altercation with Joey Porter. Jack Brennan informed the Cincinnati Enquirer that the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, Marv Lewis, would answer all questions once the story was confirmed.
It was reported to a Las Vegas television station, Las Vegas CH. 11 News, by the Las Vegas Police Dept., that they (the police) cannot arrest someone for a fight if they didn’t personally see the altercation. That’s the law in Nevada. And strangely enough the Las Vegas Police also reported at the scene that they had understood that these two men had had a history of fighting with each other. Las Vegas Lt. Kevin McMahill went on to say at the scene that “Joey Porter had been cited for a brief fight he had with Levi Jones.”
Joey Porter is facing citation charges this morning. As someone at the scene overheard Levi Jones say he was “going to file charges against Joey Porter.” So more than likely that citation for misdemeanor battery has been prompted by Levi Jones. And according to police in an interview with Las Vegas CH.11 News, Joey Porter and Levi Jones were at the same black-jack table when Joey Porter threw a punch at Levi Jones and hit him in the right eye, causing a small cut in doing so. No further incident ensued after the quick squabble.
These two, Joey Porter and Levi Jones, both have a history with each other and with the law outside if football. On the field these two are enemies both in play and personally. They’ve been playing each other twice and sometimes three times a year for the past few years. Joey Porter rushes the quarterback over the left-side of the offensive line a lot. That’s where Levi Jones is usually there to greet him. They have been seen jawbonin’ at each other on the field to say the least. But trash-talkin’ is Joey Porter’s thing. He had been voted by many peers within the league of players themselves as the worst trash-talker on the field a few years ago. And he hasn’t stopped since he started.
Joey Porter was just in the headlines about two weeks ago, wasn’t he? He’s also had a history of stirring up a brew-ha-ha. One such incident is when he used a homophobic slur to describe the starting tight end for the Cleveland Browns, Kellen Winslow just a few months ago, in December of 2006. The NFL fined him $10,000 and he held a public press conference to publicly apology. A few months before that he was involved in an incident where his two Pit Bull bred dogs got out and attacked and killed a neighbor’s miniature horse. Under Pennsylvania law charges had to be brought against him. Six charges in all, including owning dangerous or vicious dogs and failing to confine his dogs, according to the report on WXPI Pittsburgh, Sept., 2006 He was sued for damages in that incident. And it was reported that upon learning about what his dogs had done he was upset. And Porter was once kicked out of a game back in November of 2004 before it started for being in a pre-game fight with one of the Cleveland Browns players.
Levi Jones has been in trouble with the law himself. Back in 2004 he was arrested, along with his cousin, for trying to take a baton away from a police officer who was breaking up a bar fight. Both he and his cousin, Fred Robinson were released on bail of $500 the day after it occurred.
Joey Porter has recently signed with the Miami Dolphins and Levi Jones remains with the Cincinnati Bengals. The two teams are scheduled to play each other this year. Expect fines for one, if not both, of these players. It may depend on how the citation plays out whether Levi Jones receives any fine. Levi Jones makes his home in Las Vegas. While Joey Porter may have been in Las Vegas celebrating his 30th birthday.
Reference:
- Las Vegas review Journal
