Lucky Whitehead is speaking out after the Dallas Cowboys refused to take him back — even though he was misidentified in a shoplifting case
Published on July 26, 2017 11:11AM EDT
Lucky Whitehead is speaking out after the Dallas Cowboys refused to take him back — even though he was misidentified in a shoplifting case
Published on July 26, 2017 11:11AM EDT
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A former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver is speaking out following his release from the team after he was wrongly accused of shoplifting — after the actual suspect allegedly stole his identity.
Even before being cleared of any wrongdoing in the Virginia case, Lucky Whitehead worked to convince Dallas Cowboys management that he wasn’t the man who stole from a Wawa convenience store on June 22. He claims the team didn’t believe him.
“Let’s not sugarcoat anything,” Whitehead told the Dallas Morning News. “I was pretty much being called a liar.”
The statements come just days after authorities in Prince William County, Virginia, revealed that the suspect in the shoplifting/petit larceny case is not Whitehead — whose real name is Rodney Darnell Whitehead Jr. — but someone who allegedly gave police Whitehead’s date of birth and social security number after he was detained.
Police began looking for the suspect after he failed to appear in court.
“The police department regrets the impact these events had on Mr. Whitehead and his family,” police said in the statement.
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However, the damage had already been done. The team released the wide receiver just hours after news of the incident broke, citing an alleged pattern of behavior. Whitehead explained that he was innocent, with his agent, David Rich, revealing that Whitehead was on a flight from Dallas to Washington, D.C., when the alleged crime occurred, according to ESPN.
Still, the team’s executive vice president Stephen Jones, said their decision was the culmination of a number of alleged incidents involving Whitehead over the last year, ESPN reports
“In handling the situation and evaluating with the authorities there and in talking to him, we just didn’t feel like it’s in the best interest of the Cowboys to have him with us,” Jones said.
Whitehead said only his teammates believed him, while Cowboys officials mishandled the situation.
“As far as the whole situation went down, I was blindsided,” he told the Morning News. “I didn’t know about a warrant that came about in the first place. Clearly because I wasn’t the person arrested.”
He added: “The head person [in the Cowboys organization] I told, no one backed me up. No one had my back in the whole situation. I knew about it at what? 12:45. By 2:30 I’m released.”
A former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver is speaking out following his release from the team after he was wrongly accused of shoplifting — after the actual suspect allegedly stole his identity.
Even before being cleared of any wrongdoing in the Virginia case, Lucky Whitehead worked to convince Dallas Cowboys management that he wasn’t the man who stole from a Wawa convenience store on June 22. He claims the team didn’t believe him.
“Let’s not sugarcoat anything,” Whitehead told the Dallas Morning News. “I was pretty much being called a liar.”
The statements come just days after authorities in Prince William County, Virginia, revealed that the suspect in the shoplifting/petit larceny case is not Whitehead — whose real name is Rodney Darnell Whitehead Jr. — but someone who allegedly gave police Whitehead’s date of birth and social security number after he was detained.
Police began looking for the suspect after he failed to appear in court.
“The police department regrets the impact these events had on Mr. Whitehead and his family,” police said in the statement.
O.J. Simpson Is Granted Parole: What’s Next for the Notorious Former NFL Star?
However, the damage had already been done. The team released the wide receiver just hours after news of the incident broke, citing an alleged pattern of behavior. Whitehead explained that he was innocent, with his agent, David Rich, revealing that Whitehead was on a flight from Dallas to Washington, D.C., when the alleged crime occurred, according to ESPN.
Still, the team’s executive vice president Stephen Jones, said their decision was the culmination of a number of alleged incidents involving Whitehead over the last year, ESPN reports
“In handling the situation and evaluating with the authorities there and in talking to him, we just didn’t feel like it’s in the best interest of the Cowboys to have him with us,” Jones said.
Whitehead said only his teammates believed him, while Cowboys officials mishandled the situation.
“As far as the whole situation went down, I was blindsided,” he told the Morning News. “I didn’t know about a warrant that came about in the first place. Clearly because I wasn’t the person arrested.”
He added: “The head person [in the Cowboys organization] I told, no one backed me up. No one had my back in the whole situation. I knew about it at what? 12:45. By 2:30 I’m released.”
