Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Jeremy Trueblood released from Indiana jail, won't be charged

By Stephen F. Holder and Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writers

TAMPA - Jeremy Trueblood was released Wednesday from an Indiana jail after prosecutors decided not to file a public intoxication charge against the Bucs' starting right tackle stemming from an arrest Tuesday night, authorities said.

His agent, Tom Condon, said Trueblood was nothing more than an innocent bystander.

Maj. Derek Towle of the Greenfield, Ind., Police Department said prosecutors decided not to file charges against Trueblood or his friend Benjamin McKenny, who was arrested for the same alleged offense.

Trueblood, 27, was belligerent during a traffic stop and declined to provide identification, Towle said. "He would not comply with any of the officer's commands,'' Towle said. Condon denied the allegation.

Once placed under arrest, Towle said, Trueblood was cooperative. He was released from Hancock County Jail after officials determined he no longer was intoxicated. It was not known what Trueblood's blood-alcohol level was when he was arrested; jail policy requires individuals to have a 0.00 blood-alcohol content before being released.

The events that led to Trueblood's arrest apparently started when, after playing golf at a local course, the tackle and McKenny opted not to drive home because they had been drinking. Trueblood called his mother, Wanda, to drive them home, police said.

On the way, they stopped at a gas station, and that's where Towle said the trouble began. The station's clerk called police, accusing two customers of acting disorderly. The clerk said they were knocking items off shelves and throwing cup lids, and had bumped into a woman holding a small child.

The clerk called 9-1-1 and reported a possible case of drunken driving. An officer was dispatched, and the officer stopped the car driven by Trueblood's mother. It was determined that his mother was not drunk. Police said they planned to issue citations because the car's occupants weren't wearing seat belts. That's when officers said McKenny and Trueblood became uncooperative.

"If they would have cooperated, he might have just gotten a citation for no seat belt and that's all," Towle said.

But Condon, the agent, said Trueblood wasn't in the store at all. He said others in Trueblood's party were and there were three vehicles of friends and family who had played golf.

Condon said that when police arrived, Trueblood was asked to get out of the passenger seat of the vehicle and was cooperative. He said his client was taken into custody because police determined he had been drinking.

Trueblood could not be reached for comment. Trueblood, drafted by the Bucs in 2006, signed a one-year, $1.75 million contract in May. He is a native of Indianapolis.

Source: Stephen F. Holder and Danny Valentine, St. Petersburg Times.

Jeremy Trueblood disputes officer account

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on July 7, 2010 5:43 PM ET

The part about Bucs offensive lineman Jeremy Trueblood's mom driving the car before he was taken to jail by police was true. The rest, according to Trueblood, was fictionalized.

A police officer said they were called after Trueblood ran wild inside a gas station, but Trueblood said that never happened.

"Oddly enough, I never stepped in a gas station, or out of my passenger seat till they made me,'' Trueblood said in a text message to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

A local prosecutor says Trueblood called his mom for a ride home after he drank too much golfing with his buddy. As Florio mentioned earlier, Trueblood escaped the incident without charges.

But now without giving us a few posts to fill a quiet July day.

Source: Greg Rosenthal, profootballtalk.nbcsports.com