Monday, May 01, 2006

Jason Taylor Victim of Hate Crime


"My wife and I were the victims in an unfortunate incident last night, but we are both fine," Jason Taylor said after an incident on Sunday night that left the All-Pro defensive end with a torn shirt and a laceration on his forearm.

Taylor was assaulted by Redmond Charles Burns. Burns ran Taylor and his wife off the road and then assaulted Taylor with a sharp object. Burns, who is white, faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, which police have also classified as a hate crime that would permit tougher penalties. Burns also is charged with obstruction for allegedly resisting arrest after Taylor identified him from a photo array.

Burns was being held Monday on $10,600 bond at the Broward County jail.

Man faces hate crime charge after incident with Dolphins' Taylor

Here are a few interesting tidbits to this story:
- Jason Taylor (who is black) is married to the sister of Dolphins middle linebacker Zach Tomas (who is white) providing the motivation for the assault. It is a good thing that he is in police custody because if NFL quarterbacks fear these guys then this punk doesn’t have a chance. I say before he is put in jail (where he belongs) they should pad him on and let Taylor and Thomas have their way with him on the practice field for a while.

- Jason Taylor (abive) is listed as 6 foot 6, 255 pounds and Burns (right) weighs in at 5 foot 11, 168 pounds. This resulted in Burns fleeing the scene in his truck with Taylor following him while calling the police on his cell phone.

- The chase ended in up with Taylor losing sight of Burns in a trailer park. You can’t make this stuff up! That is why people who live in trailer parks get a bad rap and the reason the phrase “white trash” was invented.

- Taylor was able to pick Burns out in a police photo lineup. This means the police were familiar with Burns. When Taylor described Burns and pointed to the trailer park they probably responded something like, “Oh that guy. Yeah we know him. He’s white trash.”