Many times it’s “he-said-she-said”, which appears to be the case here.

Plus a large portion of the time the victim recants, so often that battered-womens’ syndrome doesn’t account for it all.

Wait-and-see is the best attitude here. See what the evidence is, as John suggests. See whether Tila sticks to her story or recants. See what Merriman says. See whether the charges are pursued, reduced, or dropped.

Hopefully any suspension won’t come for a while, and the team can adjust.

Why does this team have such problems with the law?

Merriman, Phillips, Foley, Jackson, Williams…..

When you watch them, and even when you’re around them, they seem like a great group of individuals. No real assholes in the bunch. I can’t understand what happens to these guys when the sun goes down.

Hopefully they have enough experience and are professional enough to not let this be a distraction, and focus on business. I also have to believe that Rivera isn’t like Cottrell, and can adjust to having something like this happen. If there’s no suspension, I think we’ll be OK. Even if there is one, I’m hopeful they can weather it.

For the person who said that Tila had been tweeting like nothing had happened, her last tweet was 19 hours ago and this happened about 8 hours ago. Shawne hasn’t tweeted all day either.

This guy cheated by using steroids, and then lied and said he never took them.

Do you have proof that Shawne was lying when he gave his reason? You don’t, because nobody does. He certainly could’ve been lying, but that doesn’t make him “a liar and a cheat”. There’s just as much chance that he took a supplement that had an unlisted ingredient that got him busted, and that he was honest about everything.

He decided to take the suspension mid-season rather than get suspended at the end of the season or in the playoffs.

and the hits keep coming.

It’s one step forward and two steps back

I’m not going to even guess if the reports are accurate or not…But Shawne..Tila Tequela? Really? That’s who you want to associate yourself with? Hank Basket is with a playmate who has her own reality series and you had to settle for Tila Tequela? Really no good things could come of that.

I started coming to this blog more diligently to escape the crap going on with my ducks…now both of my favorite football teams have massive distractions…I really could not have predicted this….ahhhh…this week will be (and has been hell), now double the hellishness!

We drafted English…he will most likely be seeing the field more than he would have

This makes a lot of sense, and is what I was thinking may have happened:

The linebacker’s lawyer talked briefly with reporters outside the San Diego County Jail downtown Sunday. He denied the allegations and claimed that Merriman and Nguyen were at a party at his Poway home with at least 14 other people. He said Nguyen was "extremely inebriated" and that Merriman tried to stop her from leaving the home because he didn’t feel it was safe for her to do so.

I think there’s enough dispute here that he won’t get any suspension this year, unless it’s team-imposed. And I don’t think that will happen unless Shawne admits that the allegations are true.

I got a text from my friend saying Merriman was injured/out for the season. Today I got a text from the same friend saying he got arrested for beating up Tila Tequila. Kind of ruins an exciting time of year.

Also, thanks for pointing out how domestic violence cases work. All that needs to happen for a guy to be taken into custody is for the girl to say so (or vice versa, I guess), and it all gets sorted out later.

first off dont go off on me, im a bronco fan. I just came over here to see what was being said on YOUR site. I hope its not true and if it is I hope she wasnt seriously hurt. My team has been dragged thru the mud all offseason so I know how you feel.

Tila hasn’t got any kind of credibility in my eyes.Have you seen the things she advertises on her webpage and Ustream.This is a blatant act of sabotage on her part,I wouldn’t put it past her to just ruin a man for the hell of it.Damn I’m so pissed off,this has to be a worst case scenario for our D and the team as a whole.And to top it off I just bought an authentic Merriman jersey.I am supporting him all the way.I just can’t imagine our team without him.

Shawne is the most active player on the team within the community. He’s on the radio answering questions at least once a week, he’s doing community service events constantly, and he works hard. He’s been rehabbing everyday for a year just to get back on the football field. I seriously doubt he’d risk all that. Obviously these things happen, (Chris Brown) but almost every other “he beat me” scenarios involving celebrities are complete fabrications, just some bimbo whores trying to make a buck.

thats the end of that relationship….

Ello has modified the text from what John quoted above.

No longer

“Do you really need those questions answered for you?”

but now

“The answers are actually yes. Nevertheless, the perception persists that at least something was amiss when authorities arrived on the scene.”

That this has nothing to do with Tila having a plan to do wrong to Shawne.

It’s my opinion that the most likely reason for all of this is:

She was hammered. She got pissed about something, quite possibly legit. She made a scene that she was going to storm out and drive away. Shawne tried to stop her. Wasted, she fought back. He put a little extra “oomph” in trying to stop her from leaving. She calls cops.

Granted, as with most other people, I agree that he never should have been hanging out with her in the first place. He should be avoiding any kind of possible drama, and he obviously wasn’t. Also, he should have called the cops when she threatened to drunkenly bail.

Like I said before, regardless of the outcome, this whole situation just sucks.

I just hope that she turns out to be a liar because that will mean that she wasn’t assaulted, and I think we can all agree that we want this to end with the statement “a woman was assaulted” as not true.

that she only has to be drunk, and not lying with intention.

Ah, I see why you made that point. I probably shouldn’t have written

“I just hope that she turns out to be a liar”

But instead written

“I just hope that she turns out to be wrong”

Shawne is innocent of all charges, Tila gets a “filing false charges” against her because Shawne was simply being a gentleman, Shawne recognizes that this was a near-miss and decides to junk the “Hollywood” lifestyle and dedicates himself to winning a SB and keeping his act clean.

Best case scenario.

Jan Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department, said there were several other people at the home at the time of the alleged assault and investigators have questioned them.

"She was not seriously hurt," Caldwell said. "She was able to talk. She was able to walk. She was mobile. She did not have any serious injuries that our deputies saw."

Caldwell said the couple had been at a nightclub earlier in the evening and Tequila was intoxicated when deputies arrived. Caldwell did not know if Merriman had been drinking. Detectives were continuing their investigation, Caldwell said, and the District Attorney’s Office would decide later if any formal charges would be filed.

Let’s see. The chick was wasted. Merriman was obvious sober enough for the cops to not know if he was drinking. She was fine. I GUARANTEE the DA will not file any charges.

That this was a situation of a huge man and a very tiny woman; if this was two equally-sized men I think we’d all see it differently.

As I’ve said, I bet a lot of us have had to physically “kidnap” our friends from doing something stupid while the friend was wasted.

like the Brian Giles of the Chargers now?

Tequila left Pomerado Hospital at 7:36 a.m. Sunday, Dominguez reported. She was observed and treated, but not admitted. Her stay at the hospital was approximately two hours.

If she has any marks on her or ANYTHING you can bet her lawyer would want her admitted.

Tequila was reported to be Merriman’s girlfriend, but Merriman told ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez in a text message that Tequila is only a female acquaintance.

She says that he’s her boyfriend on twitter but he says they aren’t? Hmmmmm.

seems like he was just trying to control a situation, hopefully the facts come out in his favor and he doesn’t get suspended.

that being said, are u guys serious that are hating on Shawne for hanging out with her. How many of you guys have said man what I’d do with a night with Pamela Anderson (in her prime) or any of 1000 playboy playmates if you want to talk about her from that POV or someone like Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria b/c granite it is a stupid/trashy type show but she is basically just an actress acting. She is hot and I would venture that most of you if she wanted to be “friends” or w/e they are would be down with the idea.

but than I guess he could just have a perfect house wife that does nothing but cook/clean and look pretty in public.

Right now it does, obviously, come down to he-said-she-said and the credibility of accuser and accused, both of whom have sketchy backgrounds:

Merriman is black (hate to say it, but don’t tell me they don’t look at these things in Poway: African-Americans represent a fraction of a percent demographically and the cops are jerks to everyone around here) and was suspected of taking steroids a few years back. Nothing was ever proven, but he was flayed in the court of public opinion.

Tila is a train wreck. She had a bisexual reality dating show on MTV, which admittedly isn’t a crime but it’s horrific taste and gives you an inkling what kind of crowds she runs with. She’s posed nude scores of times, for Playboy and less reputable outfits, and was allegedly hammer-drunk at the time.

Right now, between being a Chargers homer and trusting Tila as far as I can throw her— less, considering that she weighs about 105 lbs. The most important thing is to WAIT FOR MORE DETAILS to come out.

Poway doesn’t have a local police force, things are handled by the SD County Sheriffs.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/06/shawnestatem23448/?chargers

domestic violence hard to prove in court without 1) witnesses 2) physical evidence. false imprisonment must have 1) intent to confine. which basically means that as long as merriman didn’t lock her in a room, he should be ok. as for DV, if he can show that she did not have capacity to know what she was doing, that would be a defense to DV.

(opinion)