Baller Alert Entertainment & Lifestyle
The Superdome police officer whose butt was slapped on video by NFL superstar Odell Beckham Jr. earlier this week after LSU’s national championship victory has decided not to press charges, according to sources.
The 48-year-old officer signed an affidavit stating he did not wish to press charges against Beckham, 27, after New Orleans police obtained a warrant to book the NFL receiver on one count of simple battery.
Now, the NOPD can have the warrant for Beckham’s arrest rescinded on the grounds that the officer-involved said he does not believe the case is a criminal matter. But so far, the agency has not taken that step.
The arrest warrant obtained by NOPD alleges that the stadium police officer, a lieutenant, was instructed to enforce the Superdome’s no-smoking policy in the LSU locker room after the championship game.
The officer ordered the players to put out celebratory cigars that they lit, and while talking to one of the players, the lieutenant said he was struck on the butt from behind by a man that video evidence identified as Beckham. Beckham was reportedly in the locker room celebrating with LSU because he formerly played for the program.
According to Nola.com, police noted that the officer initially wanted to punch Beckham in retaliation but didn’t — a detail that was included to establish that the contact was unwanted and, therefore, a battery. Although the officer is not employed by NOPD, he holds a special commission that would have allowed him to arrest Beckham on the spot, but the warrant noted that he opted against it given the locker room’s “jovial atmosphere.”
According to the publication, the NOPD officer investigating the case initially sought a warrant to arrest Beckham for misdemeanor sexual battery, a non-expungeable crime defined as the intentional touching of the breasts or buttocks of someone who did not consent.
But the judge approved a warrant with a lesser count of simple battery, an expungeable crime defined as “battery committed without the consent of the victim.” Maybe he’s a Browns fan!
