Apparently, its no longer a matter of if but when as to whether Browns receiver Donte Stallworth will be arrested in connection with the incident that claimed the life of a pedestrian in Miami on Saturday morning.
According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, Stallworth is expected to face charges at some point.
Possible charges include driving under the influence, vehicular homicide, and reckless driving.
The police seem pretty confident that theyre going to charge him, a source with the NFL told Cole. Even if he [is] clean, I think the police feel hes going to be charged with something, regardless.
We reported on Saturday that prosecutors are preparing to charge Stallworth with DUI manslaughter, if a blood sample shows an illegally high concentration of alcohol. Based, however, on our interpretation of Florida law, it might not matter whether Stallworth was drunk.
If he was driving in a reckless manner, the penalty will be the same.
Under Section 316.193(3)(c)(3)(b) of the Florida Statutes, DUI manslaughter is a second degree felony, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Under Section 782.071(1)(a) of the Florida Statutes, vehicular homicide also is a second degree felony, again punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Florida law defines vehicular homicide as the killing of a human being, or the killing of a viable fetus by any injury to the mother, caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another.
That said, the case against Stallworth becomes much easier if his blood-alcohol concentration exceeded the legal limit. Still, even without evidence of driving under the influence, Stallworth could be facing serious legal consequences even if he was completely sober; as the Miami Herald reported on Sunday night, a witness claims that Stallworth pulled around a stopped car in an effort to get through a red light when the incident occurred.
[UPDATE: A member of the media points out that the Herald story containing the witness account that Stallworth pulled around another car and ran a red light has been removed from the story in which it appeared. Possibly, the Herald applies its two source policy to eyewitnesses, too.]
Bottom line? Stallworth was driving the car, and the car struck and killed a man. Absent persuasive evidence that Stallworth was doing nothing wrong or that the pedestrian was blatantly jaywalking Stallworth will soon be facing the fight of his life.