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Home » Blog » Suspended FSU RB Dalvin Cook Has Criminal History That Includes Animal Abuse

Suspended FSU RB Dalvin Cook Has Criminal History That Includes Animal Abuse

Amber Lee Blog NCAAF News
Image courtesy of Zimbio

Image courtesy of Zimbio

With quarterback De’Andre Johnson having already been dismissed for assaulting a woman in a Tallahassee bar and running back Dalvin Cook currently suspended indefinitely for assaulting a woman at a Tallahassee bar, it’s safe to say the last few weeks have been a PR nightmare for Florida State.

Not that this is anything new for the Seminoles football program, which has been dogged by a number of scandals in recent years. Last October the New York Times published a damming piece on the cover-up culture that exists, with players rarely facing the consequences of their actions.

In fact, the situation reached a boiling point over the weekend when head coach Jimbo Fisher was finally spurred to take action—or at least pay lip service to the problem. According to the Tallahassee Democrat’s Jim Henry, Fisher has laid down the law, barring all players from patronizing local bars.

Apparently, the ‘Noles will also be bringing in professionals to do…something. Details about who these professionals are and what they’ll be doing aren’t yet available, but it’s hard to imagine how much good it will do if these kids are anywhere near as far gone as their two most recent offenders.

First of all, the video of Johnson speaks for itself, though Cook’s suspension proves that Johnson would probably still be on the team without video evidence—at least Johnson wasn’t the “initial aggressor” in the confrontation. Cook, on the other hand, is accused of punching a woman in the face “several times” after an argument was sparked when she wouldn’t give her phone number to a teammate.

The victim’s account of the conversation is particularly revealing. “They kept telling me they were football players,” the woman said. “They kept telling me to Google them. They told me they were football players and they could buy me in two years.”

Given Cook’s stunning sense of entitlement, it should come as no surprise that this isn’t his first run-in with the law—it’s his third. Sports Illustrated reports the first incident came in June 2014, when Cook was charged with criminal mischief for broken car windows that were the result of a BB gun fight gone awry.

Even more disturbing is an incident of animal cruelty for which Cook was cited a month later. “Cook had three pit bull puppies—the officer estimated one to be eight months old and two to be two months old—chained together. ‘The dogs were tethered directly around the neck by a heavy chain.’”

(Click here to read the full report)

Staples rightly points out that with the video evidence, FSU’s hand was forced to dismiss Johnson, who was initially suspended indefinitely. But the decision was made much easier by the fact that he wasn’t expected to start this season.

Cook, on the other hand, is a valuable starter for the ‘Noles. Not only is dismissal the right thing to do, given his predilections towards criminality and beating women, it would definitely serve as a wake up call to the rest of the team and prove the university is legitimately committed to taking out the trash.

If Cook remains on the roster, it’ll be proof positive that FSU has no interest in cleaning up its act, not to mention further illustrate to athletes that the importance of following the rules is directly proportional to their on-field production. The more you produce, the less rules the rules apply.

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