Why Aqib Talib Should Sue the Dallas Police Department

By Joe Morrone | Jun 30, 2014

Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

By now, most of you have heard the Aqib Talib story from Sunday. For anyone who missed it, the Dallas Police Department tweeted out on Sunday morning that they had arrested Talib. Shortly after that, the Dallas Police tweeted that it was a mistake and it was actually Yaqub Talib who is the brother of Aqib Talib. Shortly after that, the Dallas Police issued a lame apology via twitter.

Obviously he has a case against the Dallas Police Department that he would most likely win, and he has every right to pursue that action if he chooses to. This incident would have been hurtful and damaging to anyone’s reputation but for a short time on Sunday, it made Talib look particularly bad.

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What’s worse is the Dallas Police Department were hash tagging the NFL and mentioning the Broncos by name in their tweets then failed to do so in the apology. I don’t know if the Broncos are upset by that or not, but they should be. There’s that old saying in journalism; if you going to smear someone on page one, then you had better apologize on page one too. The Dallas Police Department did apology but not in the same way they announced the initial news.

When Talib was signed by the Denver Broncos, one of the first questions he was asked at his introductory press conference was about his checkered past. Talib said and I’m paraphrasing, that those things happened a long time ago, I was young. He went onto say that he was older now with a family and that the Broncos would see no trouble out of him.

Those comments, for however briefly on Sunday, were being brought up on social media and certainly did not shed a favorable light on Talib. Luckily, the facts came out quickly and everyone’s attention turned towards the ineptness of the Dallas Police Department.

Talib does not need my advice on how to handle the situation, but here’s what I would tell him if he asked. I would tell him to absolutely sue the Dallas Police Department; they tried to make headlines because they thought they had arrested a celebrity. I can promise you that they are not tweeting anything out when Joe Blow get’s arrested. They did it for publicity and now they deserve all the negative publicity that’s humanly possible.

Now Talib doesn’t need whatever amount of money he may win in a lawsuit, so this would be the second part of my advice. He would come out smelling like a rose if he donated that money to the charity or charities of his choice. Talib should hold a huge press conference and use one of those great big checks when he makes the donation too.

For a half hour on Sunday, the Dallas Police Department was ready and willing to make Talib look bad and make a name for themselves at the same time. Talib has all ready come out of this looking like the victim.

Now Talib has a chance to make the Dallas Police Department look bad and then make himself look like a hero by donating his winnings. When athletes are arrested they deserve all the negative attention they receive, but this time it’s the Dallas Police who screwed up and they deserve the same negative attention.

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