No, Jason Peters Should Not Get a Suspension for Driving Really Fast

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The Eagles are making a seamless transition from non-controversy controversy season into the players’ summer vacations. Those who are not making themselves available for dissection interview are free to enjoy leisure activities until training camp opens on July 22.

Jason Peters’ activity of choice: underground drag racing. (If I could force you to listen to the original Fast and the Furious soundtrack while you read this post, I would.)

Peters was arrested early Wednesday morning for participating in an illegal street race and resisting arrest by flight, aka not pulling over right away. Per the police report, Peters for some reason raced a sedan in his Camaro, and did not stop immediately for the officer. Here’s the story from a local paper:

According to the arrest affidavit, Deputy L. Deal observed a white Camaro and blue sedan at the red light of U.S. 165 North and Central Street. When the light turned green, the Camaro and sedan accelerated and appeared to be racing.

The deputy activated the emergency lights and attempted to pull over the vehicles. The driver of the sedan immediately pulled over, but Peters, who was driving the Camaro, accelerated to a high rate of speed, exited U.S. 165 North and proceeded eastbound on Interstate 20.

The Camaro exceeded speeds of 100 mph while the deputy was in pursuit. The Camaro then exited Interstate 20 at the Pecanland Mall exit. The Camaro finally stopped at the parking lot of 4209 Pecanland Mall Drive — the address for the shopping center that includes Target and Petco.

The deputy told to Peters to get out of the vehicle, with which he complied. The driver handcuffed, arrested and transported to Ouachita Correctional Center and booked on charges of drag racing and resisting by flight.

And now a The700Level EXCLUSIVE, here are Peters’ official comments after the arrest.

You almost had me? You never had me - you never had your car... Granny shiftin' not double clutchin' like you should. You're lucky that hundred shot of NOS didn't blow the welds on the intake! You almost had me?

Wow. I did not realize he was in that deep. No word on whether he went back to collect the sedan driver’s pink slip.

Because some folks on Twitter were wondering about the possibility of an NFL suspension for Peters, we researched similar traffic incidents among pro football players. There is certainly precedent for driving extremely fast – notable players who have been ticketed for driving over 100 mph include Plaxico Burress and Adrian Peterson – but those examples don’t necessarily involve street racing, followed up with a subsequent attempt to evade police.

Still, I wouldn’t expect NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to get involved here. Nobody was hurt, and neither drugs nor alcohol were involved. It’s a traffic violation with a “resisting arrest” tacked on for failure to yield, a charge that might be even be dropped since Peters eventually cooperated. Dumb incident, one Eagles fans should be grateful did not end in tragedy, but not the type of illicit behavior that warrants suspension.

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