In May 2010, Broward PD received a call from a woman locked away in her bathroom begging for help, saying that she was pregnant and that her fiance punched her in the face. Police showed up and arrested the fiance who turned out to be 6’5, 305lb Miami Dolphins defensive end Phillip Merling, and because of his star status it didn’t get handled as a normal domestic violence case would/should have.
According to an investigation by the New York Times, the Dolphins encouraged police to treat Merling leniently and on their end, did absolutely nothing to punish him either. At one point, Mr. Weinstein asked a commander who worked side jobs for the Dolphins to notify him when Mr. Merling’s bond was posted. Merling was charged with aggravated domestic battery on a pregnant woman and soon after is where the special privileges began rolling in. Merling was not released from jail through the public front doors as other inmates are required, he was escorted out through a private back door and then driven 20 minutes away to team practice by an off duty, in uniform commander, in an unmarked vehicle. What’s even worse is that the commander then drove Merling home to get his belongings, even though the judge ordered him to stay away from his fiancee.
Merling went on to play four more seasons in the NFL with the Dolphins, Redskins and Packers. Merling’s fiancee moved to South Carolina and when she was 8 months pregnant and could not return to court for Merling’s trials, the case was dropped.
“In some of these cases, my opinion is that they were more loyal to the Dolphins than they were to the agency,” Broward’s former sheriff, Al Lamberti says. “To me, that’s where the line was crossed.” I agree with him. For those who think Ray Rice or Adrien Peterson are being punished too heavily, I think this goes to show that clearly the NFL has been slacking for years.
