Sports Plus: The Legal Word On Braylon Edwards

By Steve Kallas

The news broke on the Boomer and Carton Show this morning that Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested at 5:15 this morning in Manhattan for Driving While Intoxicated ("DWI"). He blew a .16, twice the New York State legal limit of .08. Edwards will be arraigned later today and, in all likelihood, he will be released on his own recognizance or a very low bail.

Generally speaking, the punishment Edwards will be facing, if convicted, will include a fine and a license suspension of six months. But under the new "Leandra's Law," which recently went into effect in New York, when Edwards does resume driving, every car he owns and every car he drives must be equipped with an ignition interlock system; that is, he will be unable to drive any car until he shows he is not driving drunk (above the legal limit of .08).

RELATED: Jets' Edwards Arrested On DWI Charge

The law was passed after much lobbying in Albany to make the interlock device a mandatory (as opposed to an optional) condition of any agreement or sentence (obviously, absent an acquittal).

Many have written of the concerns for the new band of Jets acquired in the last year. Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie, to name three, have had numerous off-the-field issues over the years prior to coming to New York. A suspension for Edwards, who played very well in the win over the Patriots this past Sunday, will probably come from the New York Jets.

Braylon Edwards, of course, has had his issues in the past. He was traded by Eric Mangini of the Browns just two days after he was accused of assaulting a friend of Lebron James in a Cleveland nightclub (James called Edwards' actions "childish").
He has also been sued by former "America's Next Top Model" finalist Nik Pace for child support. While Edwards admitted that he was the father of Pace's son, also named Braylon, some think Edwards rushed to admit that he was the father in Georgia (where the child was born and where Pace lived) to pay lesser child support. But that case was dismissed in Georgia, according to Raoul Felder, Pace's New York attorney, and a child support case was filed last year in New York, where Pace moved to after Edwards was traded to the Jets.

Edwards was also part of the Donte Stallworth investigation. Stallworth, who drove drunk in Florida and killed a man on a Florida highway, was with Edwards before getting into his car drunk. During the investigation, Edwards said that, had he known Stallworth was drunk, he would have given Stallworth a ride home.

Not that this is a crime, but the New York Post reported that, last November, Edwards was at a party in Los Angeles and sent superstar singer Rihanna a $10,000 bottle of champagne. Rihanna, according to the Post, not knowing who he was, returned the champagne.

And, according to many Jets and Browns fans (and NFL stats), Braylon Edwards simply drops too many passes.

Braylon Edwards will be arraigned later today.