Redskins' Sean Taylor Dies...

[joedekock]

I've been trying to stay out of this one, but I am just amazed (maybe horrified would be a better word) at some of the heartless comments on this topic.

Maybe he made bad choices. Maybe he was running with the wrong crowd. But unless he went and shot someone else and they (or their friend/relative) were coming back for revenge, I'm not sure where the "he got what was coming to him" attitude comes from. Even if that was the case, I don't believe taking one life repays another.

Do any of you have children? Take 10 seconds and think about how it would make you feel if you knew you were going to leave them behind or, better yet, how they would feel. Talking about them being better off because they won't be in a court room, they'll be financially taken care of and/or saying their life expectancy just went up is unfathomable to me.

The lack of respect for human life that is being displayed here is unbelievable.

Yes, I have Children. And I knew before I had Children that one day I most likely would have children. That is why the choices in my life even before I were not ones that would lead me into drugs, alcohol, bad friends, and dead end jobs.

So if I take the 10 seconds you ask to think about how it would be if I knew I was leaving them behind, I can honestly say that at least they had a good example for a father and a husband and if they take that with them into their adult life than I would have done a good job as an example of how to be successful in life.

But then again if someone does bust into my home to take my life tonight, it won't be because of some sort of retaliation from an incident I was involved in. It will truly be a random murder. Taylor's child will grow up her whole life knowing that her daddy was murdered because someone put a bounty on his life for pissing them off.

 

[joedekock]

Here is a little more for those that THINK he was a thug:

MIAMI - Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor died today after he was shot in his home by an apparent intruder, leaving the Washington Redskins in mourning for a teammate who seemed to have reordered his life since becoming a father.

Taylor dies from shooting in Fla. -- baltimoresun.com


In the past two years, however, Taylor has earned praise from coaches and teammates for maturing and better work habits. Portis, a former University of Miami teammate, said Taylor had grown up considerably since the birth of his daughter, Jackie, in May 2006.


baltimoresun.com - Steele Press: In the prime of youth


BUT, you would think from the comments of the people in here "that know him"...that he was a thug that could not mature and that almost derserved his plight.....

"an apparent intruder". If the guy did not bust into the home unannounced, then what else could he be?

I hope you understand that I am not saying he was a thug till the day he died, like Tupac or something. I understand that there were plenty of people close to him that were quick to show how he turned his life around for the better. However, from his past he was in a lot of activity that would classify him as a typical "gangsta". And that is what got him in the end. His past.

 

[joedekock]

I sure do not buy into anything said by that excuse making, crack head Michael Irvin; and I just don't buy that reasoning anyway - the bottom line is sometimes you MUST remove the bad elements from your younger life to protect your current life; especially for you family and in this case your ACTUAL LIFE . Just because that person's mama may have fed you way back; doesn't mean you still can offer the money to HER directly and then disown the trouble making son/friend, you damn sure don't owe him crap. Any real friends would not place you in those bad situations or allow these types of things to continuously occur!

Bravo! Good explanation.

My parents constantly warned me to be careful who I hang with, because you will be associated with trouble if you hang with a trouble maker. And it is true. Part of my reputation in high school before I dropped all the friends who put me in bad situations, was that of a trouble maker. I got blamed for lighting a trash can on fire when it was actually one of the friends I was hanging out with at that time. Just because I was actually there, even though I did not actually commit the crime, people started talking, and some how my name was brought up to the principle as the criminal who committed the crime.

After that, I thought I do not want this to continue into my adult life, so I dropped all those bad influencing friends, and whammo. A much more successful life that led me to a great college, wonderful wife, beautiful child, and much more success if I had continued pulling pranks and skipping class.

 

[joedekock]

Just a thought. If this story was about the murder of Ladanian Tomlinson, or Marvin Harrison... no one would be arguing back and fourth on why they died. Simply put, its because those two names players lived criminal, thug-free lives.

 

[salsadancer7]

"an apparent intruder". If the guy did not bust into the home unannounced, then what else could he be?

I hope you understand that I am not saying he was a thug till the day he died, like Tupac or something. I understand that there were plenty of people close to him that were quick to show how he turned his life around for the better. However, from his past he was in a lot of activity that would classify him as a typical "gangsta". And that is what got him in the end. His past.

He had ONE INCIDENT with the brandishing a gun in the ATV situation and a DWI.....THATS IT....there is no LONG, LENGTHY blog/report of multiple problems when it comes to the law. There is no THUG atmosphere or situation. Tell you what, IF you someone had stolen FROM ME...and I had a gun...I know sure as the sun comes up I will get my stolen property. I am sure ALOT OF PEOPLE here would do the same. I mean if he had caught these guys stealing the ATVs from his house and he brandished a gun to stop them, would be having this same argument? IF he had shot them dead while trying to steal the ATVs from his house? Would he be called a thug or someone protecting his property. We have a thread in the PIT where a guy shot and killed 2 guys that had robbed an neighbor, AFTER telling the 9-1-1 operator he was GOING TO DO IT and the operator IS a local law enforcement employee....the shooter is saying they threatend him...yet there is no statement stating that...and people are defending HIM...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/pit/115175-texan-kills-burglars-next-door.html

But yet, Taylor is a thug or involved in "gangsta" activity...so does that guy in Kentucky involved in KKK activity? I mean really.....Can you see the obvious double standard....

 

[Paul Wozniak]

He had ONE INCIDENT with the brandishing a gun in the ATV situation and a DWI.....THATS IT....there is no LONG, LENGTHY blog/report of multiple problems when it comes to the law. There is no THUG atmosphere or situation. Tell you what, IF you someone had stolen FROM ME...and I had a gun...I know sure as the sun comes up I will get my stolen property. I am sure ALOT OF PEOPLE here would do the same. I mean if he had caught these guys stealing the ATVs from his house and he brandished a gun to stop them, would be having this same argument? IF he had shot them dead while trying to steal the ATVs from his house? Would he be called a thug or someone protecting his property. We have a thread in the PIT where a guy shot and killed 2 guys that had robbed an neighbor, AFTER telling the 9-1-1 operator he was GOING TO DO IT and the operator IS a local law enforcement employee....the shooter is saying they threatend him...yet there is no statement stating that...and people are defending HIM...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/pit/115175-texan-kills-burglars-next-door.html

But yet, Taylor is a thug or involved in "gangsta" activity...so does that guy in Kentucky involved in KKK activity? I mean really.....Can you see the obvious double standard....

Wasn't that OJ's story in Las Vegas?

 

[salsadancer7]

Wasn't that OJ's story in Las Vegas?

LOL..damn..stop making me laugh...! this is serious!

 

[iceturkee]

I agree with the logic in what you're saying. However, Salsa is right. Unless you've been there, you really don't know. In the hood, you have more than one family, and at times, the wrong family wins the tug of war of reason and responsibility.

kinda like the sopranos in a way, eh?

 

[Paul Wozniak]

LOL..damn..stop making me laugh...! this is serious!

Yes, this is serious. Death by firearms is the leading killer of Black males 19 -34 yrs. of age. Wish I had a solution, but I wasn't graced with that sort of wisdom, just a dark sense of humor.

 

[salsadancer7]

Yes, this is serious. Death by firearms is the leading killer of Black males 19 -34 yrs. of age. Wish I had a solution, but I wasn't graced with that sort of wisdom, just a dark sense of humor.

Getting back to all seriousness...I think it was RIFFJIM that stated something that is very true among the black and latino communities when it comes to these violent situations....the stigma/fear of 'ratting someone out'. NO ONE WILL TALK. You don't think someone knows what is going on? SOMEONE KNOWS...

 

[ONUOsFan]

Yes, I have Children. And I knew before I had Children that one day I most likely would have children. That is why the choices in my life even before I were not ones that would lead me into drugs, alcohol, bad friends, and dead end jobs.

So if I take the 10 seconds you ask to think about how it would be if I knew I was leaving them behind, I can honestly say that at least they had a good example for a father and a husband and if they take that with them into their adult life than I would have done a good job as an example of how to be successful in life.

But then again if someone does bust into my home to take my life tonight, it won't be because of some sort of retaliation from an incident I was involved in. It will truly be a random murder. Taylor's child will grow up her whole life knowing that her daddy was murdered because someone put a bounty on his life for pissing them off.

And I've made similarly good choices in my life, but that doesn't mean that I think someone who didn't deserves to be murdered in his own bedroom.

 

[joedekock]

And I've made similarly good choices in my life, but that doesn't mean that I think someone who didn't deserves to be murdered in his own bedroom.

I did not say he deserved to be murdered. Only an unintelligent person puts words in another's mouth.

 

[riffjim4069]

Getting back to all seriousness...I think it was RIFFJIM that stated something that is very true among the black and latino communities when it comes to these violent situations....the stigma/fear of 'ratting someone out'. NO ONE WILL TALK. You don't think someone knows what is going on? SOMEONE KNOWS...

I agree with Salsa...someone knows! An article came out in yesterdays Palm Beach Post titled, "Former UM teammate suspects Taylor was targeted". I don't know this individual, nor do I keep up with Miami area news, but this individual (former Miami teammate and Arizona cornerback Antrel Rolle) made a few common sense observations, at minimum. Whether he has credible information is another story, but to a casual observer (me) it would appear Taylor's past life may have come back to haunt him. At least some people are talking...which will hopefully lead to an arrest and conviction.

Full Story

But Arizona Cardinals cornerback Antrel Rolle said he thinks Taylor, a childhood friend and teammate with the Hurricanes, was singled out by somebody who knew him.

"He really didn't say too much, but I know he was pretty much scared every time he went down to Miami," Rolle told the Associated Press.

Rolle, who began playing football with Taylor in Homestead when they were 6 years old, indicated that his friend had enemies in South Dade.

"They say it was a burglary. It was absolutely not a burglary," Rolle said. "Down south, where we're from, there were many people talking to Sean, a lot of jealousy, a lot of angry people.

"Sean, he had a large group of friends, and he no longer hung out with those friends, so you never know where this came from." In 2005, Taylor was accused by police of brandishing a gun near his home in a dispute over an all-terrain vehicle. Shortly after the incident, gunmen riddled his unoccupied SUV with bullets. They were never identified; Taylor ultimately was sentenced to probation in the gun incident.

 

[vurbano]

It sure didnt seem like a burglary to me. Thugs often die violently. This guy was destined too. He has a history of getting into trouble, works in DC and decides to buy a house in the drug captial of the US??? Someone should have talked this powder keg out of living in a box of matches. A nice home in Charlottesville and all he'd be looking at probably is some dog fighting charges.

Facts about Taylor:


Washington Safety Is Awaiting Trial
By ROBERT ANDREW POWELL
Published: April 15, 2006

MIAMI — Sean Taylor excels at defense. On the field, that has never been in doubt. Taylor is one of the best young safeties in the N.F.L., a first-round draft choice out of Miami by the Washington Redskins in 2004, a Pro Bowl alternate his rookie year, a player so ferocious he is called "Tha Hitman."


Taylor, however, is currently depending on his defense lawyers as he fights assault charges here that could put him in prison for up to 46 years.
Last June, after an altercation in West Perrine, a depressed community south of Miami, Taylor's GMC Yukon Denali was sprayed with bullets from an AK-47 and a semiautomatic pistol. The gunmen have never been identified.

In the shooting's aftermath, the police charged Taylor, 23, with one count of felony assault and one count of battery. In January, two additional felony assault charges were filed. Because of mandatory minimum sentences, Taylor would be jailed for at least three years if he was convicted of any of the assault charges.

"It's incredible that this young man would be facing three counts of incredible severity," said Ed Carhart, one of Taylor's three lawyers. "He has so much to lose it's mind boggling."

On the field, Taylor carries himself with a demeanor that matches his nickname. In his rookie season, he had an angry postgame confrontation with Bengals receiver T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Without naming either player, Cincinnati Coach Marvin Lewis later said that one of his players had been spit on.
Last season, Taylor was ejected from a playoff game for spitting on Michael Pittman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

His off-field life has often seemed just as chaotic. He cycled through agents and skipped a mandatory rookie symposium. He was arrested on drunken driving charges in Virginia in October 2004, but the charges were dismissed.

Through his lawyer, Taylor declined to discuss his legal troubles. His father, the police chief of nearby Florida City, also refused to comment. "That's what lawyers are for," Pedro Taylor said.

When his rookie season ended, Taylor chose to return to his native Miami rather than stay in Virginia near the Redskins. He sometimes stayed with friends, including Michael McFarlane, who lived in West Perrine, according to Carhart, Taylor's lawyer.

With money from a seven-year, $18 million contract, Taylor bought a pair of all-terrain vehicles. Four-wheel A.T.V.'s are popular in West Perrine. They can be seen on weekends buzzing down side streets and traversing the yards of housing projects.

On May 31, 2005, after cruising West Perrine with a friend, Taylor parked his new A.T.V.'s at McFarlane's house. Taylor left the vehicles overnight, though he did not stay at the house himself, according to Carhart.

The narrative of what followed, including Taylor's arrest, is laid out in the felony records room of the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami. Two folders bulge with the incident report, lawyers' motions and a dozen depositions of witnesses and police officers.

When McFarlane awoke June 1, he discovered the A.T.V.'s were missing, according to Carhart. He and a friend, and then eventually Taylor, drove around the neighborhood looking for the vehicles, according to the police report.

The reports said that Taylor's blue Yukon Denali cruised several times past a house where Ryan Hill was hanging out with friends. Hill approached the vehicle to ask Taylor what he wanted.

"He started talking nasty and stuff, talking about how: 'The police can't touch me. I own this town,' " Hill, 22, said in an interview on the stoop outside his mother's public-housing apartment in West Perrine, where he lives with her, a brother and a sister.

According to Hill and other witnesses, Taylor exited his truck, pulled a gun out of his waistband and pointed it at Hill and a couple of his friends. Witnesses said another man pulled out an M-16 and demanded that Hill return Taylor's A.T.V.'s. When Hill denied stealing the vehicles, Taylor and the other man left in their cars. Both vowed to return and kill everyone present, according to depositions from Hill and other witnesses. (Damn OJ wants to know how you get off on this charge!)

Ten minutes later, Taylor did come back, this time with what has been labeled in the police report as "a posse" of men in other cars. He confronted Hill and his friends.

Hill, a 6-foot-3, 273-pound former high school football star, said in the interview that Taylor was "just jumping up, like in a football game. He was just jumping up, like hyped. Then he just swung at me when he got across the street. I fought him back."

The fight broke up when Hill and his friends scattered. Taylor returned to his Yukon and drove back to McFarlane's house, several blocks north. He parked the truck in front of the house, which he entered. A silver car pulled up. Hands poked out of the car's windows. From inside the house, McFarlane noticed guns and dived to the floor, according to depositions given by witnesses to Taylor's lawyers.

The Yukon was struck at least 15 times, and the police recovered 27 bullet cases, according to the police report.

Taylor was not at the house when the police arrived. McFarlane and others refused to allow the police to search the house, according to officers.

Three days after the shooting, Taylor surrendered at a police substation near West Perrine. He posted $16,500 bond and was released. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Days before the trial was scheduled to start this week, Taylor's lawyers found that the prosecutor, Michael Grieco, had put newspaper clippings from the case on his Web site to promote his other job as a D.J. Grieco stepped down, and the trial was postponed until May. Richard Sharpstein, another of Taylor's lawyers, said he would file a motion next week to dismiss the case.

The Miami-Dade state attorney's office has vowed to continue the prosecution. In a statement, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said nothing on Grieco's Web site "compromised the integrity of the Sean Taylor case."

 

[stevenl]

I only read part of this thread but I just cant beleive people are really saying "Well he got what was coming to him" But I expect it from at least of the the posters (perhaps the one above me) but some of the others who have said it is a bit surprising. So because he use's drugs hes an evil monster? (You do realize that drugs is not only a urban/inner city problem right? The difference is the white collars can afford the drugs and don't commit crimes to get them, thus you don't hear about it,) There is probably a large number of people on this forum who have smoked weed or some other drug. So is this a forum of thugs?

 

[ONUOsFan]

I did not say he deserved to be murdered. Only an unintelligent person puts words in another's mouth.

Thanks for the baseless insult, but you put the words in your own mouth, unless you want to give me another explanation for this statement:

But he did have it coming to him by the lifestyle he was living.

 

[salsadancer7]

It sure didnt seem like a burglary to me. Thugs often die violently. This guy was destined too. He has a history of getting into trouble, works in DC and decides to buy a house in the drug captial of the US??? Someone should have talked this powder keg out of living in a box of matches. A nice home in Charlottesville and all he'd be looking at probably is some dog fighting charges.

He was NOT a thug...Jesus Christ! DO you read? The guy had ONE incident where he had ATVs stolen from him and he made the mistake of wanting to take the law into his on hands. THATS IT!! Period. There was NO ISSUES with in him at The U nor high school.

Now, with that said, I would not doubt that his aquiatences had something to do with it, but because he had thugs as friends when HE WAS YOUNGER, does not make him a thug. EVERYONE clearly saw that he got AWAY from that life after he had his daughter and SINCE his daughter he has kept himself clean.

He BOUGHT a house in DC because he works there...?! DUH..!!!
Again, normally, dumb a$$ responses like these merit ignoring, but then I would miss them.

 

[joedekock]

Thanks for the baseless insult, but you put the words in your own mouth, unless you want to give me another explanation for this statement:

Your shallow thinking and comprehension cannot understand that what you were reading from me is that his choices led to himself having enemies and ultimately his death... No one deserves to be murdered.

I for one believe in redemption. I believe from all accounts that Taylor was living a better lifestyle very recently than he was a year ago. It is sad that someone who changed and changed to a good person had to go. But his choices from his past do not dissapear just because he had been redeemed to live a better life when his daughter came into this earth. His enemies he made from his not to distant past of bad choices did not leave.

This is the facts of life.

Our church supports a missonary in Guatemala where the MS13 gang runs at its highest. When they get saved and accept Jesus as their savior, and leave the gang, there is an instant bounty over their heads. Some of these guys have wives, children and have changed their lives to serve those who are less fourtunate and in jail. They do all of that willingly knowing that when they leave the gang there is an instant bounty on their lives, and they will be murdered. The chances of them living to see 5 years after they leave the gang are only 20%. Yet this missionary is seeing them leave the gangs ata rate of three a day just with his own eyes. These gang members know their past and bad choices they made in the past is more than likely going to kill them.

None of these guys deserve to die. They have changed their hearts and chose a path of living to serve others. Yet they get killed daily from their bad choices they made in their past.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Your shallow thinking and comprehension cannot understand...

Our church...

Things that make you go hmmm.....

And, I'm sorry, but there's a difference between what you said in this last post (bad choices can come back to haunt you) and the statement I quoted from your earlier post. "He had it coming to him" is a phrase used in most conversations to insinuate that the person deserved what they got.

 

[Hart5150]

Here are 2 articles.

One from an actual journalist the other from a player rump-swabbing politically correct hack.

FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Taylor's death a grim reminder for us all

Media has failed with Taylor coverage - 11/29/2007 - MiamiHerald.com