Leon County (Fla.) Director of Law Enforcement Michael Wood said at a news conference Wednesday that he was neither vindicating nor vilifying Florida State quarterback/pitcher Jameis Winston for leaving a grocery store without paying for seafood.
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Perhaps, it's time that someone close to the Heisman Trophy winner does the latter - for Winston's sake.
USA TODAY Sports reported that Winston, Florida State's staring quarterback in football and closer in baseball, was cited for shoplifting from a grocery store in Tallahassee, Fla., on Tuesday night for failure to pay $32.72 for the seafood. When police arrived at his home three hours later, he said he "forgot" to pay.
A statement purported to be from Winston said: "As reported in the news, last night I received an adult civil citation for petit theft from a local supermarket. I went to the supermarket with the intent to purchase dinner but made a terrible mistake for which I'm taking full responsibility. In a moment of youthful ignorance, I walked out of the store without paying for one of my items."
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Already, the justification starts with his walking out without paying for "one of my items." That could be true, although it would seem that at least one media outlet - any media outlet - would've reported that Winston had paid for other items while in the store.
That has yet to be mentioned. In fact, ESPN reported that sheriff's office deputies spoke with the grocery store's managers, who could have vouched for Winston if he did pay, or if they truly thought he had forgotten.
Then perhaps, Winston could have been given a chance to pay and not receive a citation. That did not happen.
The statement goes on to talk about Winston learning from his mistakes, understanding that he is held to closer scrutiny than normal college students. Except that he hasn't.
If last year's sexual assault charges brought against Winston during the middle of the 2013 college football season - he was cleared in December just prior to the Heisman Trophy vote because of too many gaps in his accuser's story - didn't make a lasting impression that he cannot make any false steps, nothing will.
The other troubling part of Winston's statement reads, "I hope and pray my friends and family will view me as the 20 year old young man that I am, and support me through this unfortunate situation."
Oh, he's 20 ... that's why he forgot to pay for the groceries.
If Winston made an honest mistake, then age has nothing to do with it. Don't we all know at age 6 that taking something from a store without paying for it is wrong?
And Winston has been involved in a couple of other incidents, as reported by ESPN. In November of 2012, police were called to his apartment complex in which BB gun fire damaged 13 windows. Winston and his roommate said they were engaged in "battles" but did not fire BB guns. He was not charged with a crime.
Another police report indicated he went to a Burger King and asked for a cup for water and repeatedly filled with soft drinks, despite an employee's objections. The restaurant declined to prosecute.
Winston supporters will say that he never was charged in the previous instances. So chalk it up to extremely unfortunate luck that his named came up in the other incidents.
The NFL is starting to have a hard time believing Winston's bad luck. Bleacher Report indicated that an anonymous NFL scout said the Seminoles quarterback is hurting his draft stock based on the incidents that keep following him.
"When I heard about this, I was stunned," the scout told Bleacher Report. "He was the top overall pick next year. Was. Not anymore. This latest thing shows a continuation of bad judgment. I don't trust him, and I can tell you very few teams in the NFL will trust him."
Another scout said, "We're talent whores, but we're not total talent whores. It's almost impossible, at this point, to trust him."
And a front-office executive told Bleacher Report, "He's on his way to falling out of the first round."
Fortunately for Winston, the NFL draft is seven rounds, so a team is bound to pick him up. His decision-making, to this point, has not been worthy of a starting quarterback in the NFL.
According to USA TODAY Sports, Winston will enter the "District Village," a civil citation program that allows a first-time offender to have the shoplifting citation removed from his public record in exchange for 20 hours or more of community service.
But unlike his play on the field, Winston may be better served with a little less protection off the field. Last year around this time, Winston talked about trying to avoid "Manziel Disease" - public scrutiny for all his actions, as was the case with former Texas A&M quarterback and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
That didn't happen, either.
The hope now is that Winston let his play on the field be his only statement. Or else, he may not reach the level he needs for media to concern themselves with what he says after his Florida State career is over.
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