The news became public of Washington running back Derrius Guice’s arrest on Friday evening, and soon thereafter, the Washington Football Team announced that they were releasing the third-year player who has appeared in five games during his career.
After the dust settled a little bit about the domestic violence allegations, Guice’s attorney, Peter Greenspun, released a statement saying that the allegations against Guice were not fully investigated and that Guice was released from the team “without an inquiry as to what did or did not take place.” Greenspun went on to say that Guice will defend these charges in court, where a full vetting can take place, “in contrast to actions by local law enforcement and the Washington Football Team that assumed the worst, directly contradicting every sense of fairness and due process.”
Whether you believe in innocent until proven guilty or not, it’s hard to blame Ron Rivera and Washington for cutting ties with Guice as quickly as they did. The main thing that Rivera has stressed since taking over in Washington has been a solid culture, and it’s clear that distractions such as this have no place in the team that he’s trying to build. Guice will eventually have his day in court, and the truth will be uncovered, but until then, his legal matters are an unneeded drama in Washington that the team decided to do without going forward.
