Investigators knew arresting a Hurricanes player would generate headlines.
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Miami Police may have targeted Walton, local media outlets report. The former Booker T. Washington High star is suspended indefinitely from playing for the Hurricanes. A woman told police that a man matching Walton's description pretended to be a cop when he pulled her over this past April 21. She alleged the man rubbed his genitals on her back and promised not to give her a ticket if she would call him. She provided the police with a phone number that matched Walton's. It was while investIgating the woman's claims, which so far have not resulted in criminal charges, that police found Walton drunk in his car.
However, Walton may have been set up, according to a recent report by 940 AM sports talk radio host Andy Slater. He raises some very interesting questions: Why would the alleged victim keep the phone number of a man who groped her? Why did she wait 33 hours to report the crime? Why were the cops directly outside her house when they stopped Walton's car? And why would he be there at 4 a.m. if she hadn't called him to come to her place?
The police version, also described by WPLG Channel 10, just doesn't add up. I'm sure Walton's phone records will show the woman called him shortly before he got busted. Here is what I think happened: She has a boyfriend who found out she was talking to Walton. Then investigators helped her entrap Walton because they knew arresting a Hurricanes player would generate headlines.
In fact, police immediately tweeted Walton's arrest. Now this poor kid has been walking around campus with people looking at him like a sexual predator for more than a month. (A department spokesman declined to comment.)
Miami Police helped destroy the reputation of a young man who made it out of Overtown, one of the city's most violent neighborhoods. It's appalling because they know what happens to inner-city children who go the wrong way: They die in the streets. But Walton earned his way to the safety of a prestigious university.
The city needs to fire every cop who was involved in smearing Walton. He's a good kid.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.
