Preston Parker, Florida State University’s football team’s offensive most valuable player in 2007, has excelled on the field, but continues to garner negative press through his illegal activities.
Coach Bobby Bowden announced Parker‘s dismissal from the team “due to his latest violation of team policy,” last Monday.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Parker was arrested and charged with a DUI after being found asleep in his car at McDonald’s on West Tennessee Street.
Parker, has been arrested three other times since 2006, for shoplifting at a Best Buy (charges were dismissed), possession of marijuana in Palm Beach Gardens, and carrying a concealed handgun, a felony, which was later reduced to a charge for carrying a concealed weapon (a misdemeanor).
Why do we continue to allow people in a college football program to get away with so much?
We are actually harming these athletes by letting them get away with just a warning, community service or a slap on the wrist.
Maybe Parker’s third or fourth arrest could have been avoided if he felt the consequences from his first and second violations.
With his many accolades, Parker, should be practicing on the field or working in the classroom, not sleeping in his car.
If Parker is to continue to learn in school, he also has to continue to learn in life.
This incident is a direct correlation to why professional athletes host dogfights and shoot themselves with unregistered guns, because they get away with so much to begin with and as a result they never learn.
Faran Foy for the Editorial Board.