Playing Caputo the right call; did not get preferential treatment

In all of my years of being a Nebraska football fan (dating back to 1986), I must say cases that that of offensive lineman Mike Caputo are a first.


Though Husker football has had its isolated incidents of players running afoul with the law (i.e. Lawrence Phillips, Christian Peter, Scott Baldwin), Nebraska has generally had players display exemplary behavior. Are they perfect? No, it’s called being young and human. We have all done things in our lives we shouldn’t have done, especially from the ages of 16-22.

Husker head coach Bo Pelini confirmed that Caputo will play in the Capital One Bowl Thursday after a legal resolution was reached in regard to a citation Caputo received a couple weeks ago.

Caputo pleaded guilty to reckless driving Thursday and judge ordered him to pay a $100 fine, the maximum fine for a first-time city infraction, after Lincoln police say they found him intoxicated and sleeping in the driver’s seat of a running vehicle on Dec. 11.

Caputo also must also attend a victim impact panel where he and others receiving tickets listen to testimony from those whose lives have been impacted by drunken driving. Pelini said Caputo is also being disciplined within the football program. Caputo was cited Dec. 11 when Lincoln police say they found him sleeping in a vehicle at the U-Stop at 110 West O St. at about 1:10 a.m. after someone called to report a man slumped over the wheel. Caputo's lawyer, Terry Dougherty, said Caputo wasn’t sleeping but had pulled off the road to send a text message.

That assessment would seem to make sense as Caputo’s blood alcohol level was .103 with the legal limit being .08. Let’s face it; a 280-pound man is not going to pass out with a BAC of .103. Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood reaffirmed Thursday that the officer said he saw the driver of the vehicle slumped down, eyes closed and he appeared to be sleeping with a phone in his hand. Caputo was taken to Cornhusker Place detox center and cited on suspicion of driving under the influence. City prosecutors charged him Wednesday with reckless driving, not DUI. City code states that it is illegal for a person to drive, use, operate, park or stop a vehicle in a reckless manner.

If he had been charged with DUI, the least Caputo could have gotten was probation. Caputo has started every game the past two years and has played almost all the snaps at center this year. He was a recognizable enough piece of the Husker offense and was voted second-team All-Big Ten.

Some people might make a blanket statement to the effect of Caputo getting preferential treatment because he is a Nebraska football player. However, Lincoln Public Safety Director, Tom Casady, spoke about this issue on Jack & John in the morning on Lincoln radio station KLIN. Casady added that he has seen numerous cases similar to Caputo’s over the course of his 30 plus years in law enforcement. It is not uncommon for there to be reduced charges under these circumstances. Therefore the idea that Caputo got a sweetheart carries no weight if he received the same punishment that others got under these similar conditions.

While you can argue that Caputo should not have started the vehicle in the first place, the fact that there was no hard evidence that he actually drove it is where the case gets convoluted. I am no lawyer but the truth of the matter is that rightly or wrongly cases are not necessarily decided by is someone guilty? The question then becomes, is there sufficient and indisputable enough evidence to convict someone?

Ideally, they catch someone actually driving who tests over the limit (and no one gets hurt). In that case, it is a slamdunk DUI but cases where the car isn’t moving and is parked on private property are much tougher to get a conviction.

The confounding dynamic here is that in one corner you have reasonable people who see the situation for what it was, and were thankful Caputo was smart enough not to drive in that condition.

The other segments of people who have too much time on their hands want to go on a witch hunt over something pedestrian. At which point, I say, “Join a quilting club.”

The ones that want to pile on Caputo are clueless as to what happened. Again, there is no hard evidence to suggest that he even drove the car at all, yet some people go off with this nonsense trying to pretend like they have the higher ground.

And just because someone pleads to a lesser charge, it does not mean that there was insufficient evidence to get a conviction for the original charge. Speaking for myself if I were in that position, if there aren’t sufficient facts to get a conviction for a DUI, I’m not pleading guilty to a damn thing.

I have no problem with how the District Attorney handled the situation. If he says that’s how he normally charges those cases then so be it. Also, last year I remember two Huskers (Baker Steinkuhler and Rickey Thenarse) getting charged with DUI so I don’t want to hear that NU players got special treatment. I believe the DA punished the crime. I also want to say I have no problem with the DA giving a 21 year old kid a break, as long as the young man learned the lesson. Now me as a grown man with a wife, kids, and a career I should know better. I don’t believe a 21 year old college kid should be held as accountable for his actions as me, especially if he has had a clean history up to this point.