Lake Travis Is Unkind to Cedric Benson
May 4, 2008
Lake Travis is a sanguine body of water in the tony section of Austin, Texas. Each weekend the lake is filled with boaters of all ages. As night drops over Texas’ capital city the manses on the hills above the lake shimmer. The likes of actress Sandra Buullock and tennis star Andy Roddick reside in the hills and often party on the lake.
Inevitably on those Friday and Saturday nights young, mostly white revelers can be heard out; the high-pitched laughs and screams of women and the primal frat boy drunken yells to no one in particular abound. As their crafts glide by older partiers they wave but the hip-hop and rap music remains clearly audible even from 60 feet above the shore. The young yell their hellos a little too inebriated while the slightly more sober older folk cordially wave and smile.
I have seen this scene perhaps 50 times on Lake Travis. I have seen people on party boats diving into spotlighted water late, late into the evening. I have heard the boom of the bass of rock or rap music as if a speaker was next to my ear.
But I have never, ever seen a Lower Colorado River Authority officer do anything other than float by and ask the white partiers if everything is all right.
Now if you’re a young, black and wealthy NFL running back, and ex University of Texas star named Cedric Benson and you own a 30-foot party boat and you’re on Lake Travis with your boys and some women and the same music is playing that was heard on the by white partiers just five minutes before - well, you’re getting busted. And if you say a word, you’re getting sprayed:
Benson was operating the boat with 15 passengers aboard when he was stopped by a Lower Colorado River Authority officer for a random safety inspection. He failed a field sobriety test on the officer’s boat and was uncooperative when the officer tried to take him ashore, the authority said.
“When Benson did not pass the test, he presented himself as a threat to the officer and argued about whether or not he would be taken to land to have a follow-up field sobriety test performed on land and refused to put on a life jacket,” the authority said in a statement.
The officer had to use pepper spray to subdue Benson. He then refused to leave the officer’s boat and authorities had to drag him to a car to be taken to the Travis County jail, the authority said.
He refused to leave the officer’s boat? Sure.
“Okay Benson, let’s go.”
“Nah man. I’m a sit right here. Besides isn’t the moonlight beautiful?”
“I said, let’s GO Benson!”
“But officer. C’mon, have a seat and chill.”
Entire contents of pepper spray canister unloaded in Benson’s face, then dragged ashore.
“Glurd, gervisgh,kafigga.”
“Shut up, boy.”
Oh to be young, kinda gifted and black on Lake Travis.
(And here’s the follow-up to the Benson story with the latest info as of its posting.)
Comments
21 Responses to “Lake Travis Is Unkind to Cedric Benson”
Got something to say?
Great post brotha Dwil. During my college days I have experienced that many times.
Expecially when the black college students would hang out on one night and the white students would hang out another night.
The way the cops treated both was totally different. And not only the cops but also businesses too.
damn, I already knew about DWB, but never really thought about Boating While Black (BWB)… same shit, different vehicle…
Pepper spray? Damn again… I don’t know all the details, but I’m sure that the police officer’s life was in grave danger…
Yo Modi theres also SWB = standing while black.
This rule goes into effect if there are 3 or more black males standing in a group.
Trust me I have been harrassed by the police for SWB many times.
Yeah man, Lake Travis, though many. many people boat there is generally for the wealthy. Especially where, from peeps I know in Austin, where Ced got his boat messed with. BWB, baby….
Didn’t Cedric know we don’t like water anyway? Not buoyant enough for the water. That’ll teach him.
D-Wil, this story gains quite a bit from you being able to supply background information about Lake Travis. I noticed that the story of Dominic Rhodes? of the Colts getting arrested for loitering around a nightclub in Indianapolis had a similar flavor of what Origin refers to as SWB.
This might just be the late-night energy drink talking, but this reminds me a lot of what corporations do in tracking Internet usage. If you’re a good employee, you have nothing to worry about; but if your on-the-job performance starts to degrade, you had better believe they’d use your Internet usage as an excuse to help fire you.
Wow…..
Dwil - Nice take. I was surprised by this as well, especially given how many parties and gatherings take place on Lake Travis from spring throughout summer. I have attended several small and large gatherings and where everyone except the driver of the boat has been way past a couple of beers on several occasions and we were never bothered by the cops (to be honest, I didn’t even realize they actively patrolled the area other than for emergency response). It’s pretty well known that people go out to party, have fun and beat the Texas heat out there. Hell, that’s basically what they made it for (for all unaware, Lake Travis is a man made lake)! It been years since I have been out there and things might have been changed (well, I guess that’s obvious given to what happened to Benson), but the general rule was you had to get pretty unruly and downright dangerous to attract any authorities. Back in the day, several groups through large parties for black professionals on barges and yachts and they sold out every time.
Adding to how odd this is, at least IMO, is that UT players are pretty much treated like Gods in Austin. Normally, they have to really step out of line to get into trouble within the city and surrounding areas. Perhaps that doesn’t extend to after they graduate or maybe they just didn’t initially realize who it was.
Regardless, it saddens me to see this. I have fond memories of good times partying on Lake Travis. I hope this was just one group of bad apples and the culture down there hasn’t changed this much, but I think we all know the truth.
Lake Travis is definitely a haven for the wealthy, especially in certain parts. I haven’t had time to read through all the reports, but I am wondering if maybe some of the rich folks spotted a bunch of black people on the “wrong side” of the lake and called to turn them in. I could very well be in denial here, but lots of people of all races boat and party on Lake Travis. The authorities generally don’t trip. I can’t recall them ever doing anything other than maybe slowing down to glance at what was going on and then riding off.
“Random safety inspection” - for fuck’s sake….
Okay, first Sandra Bullock sold her house in Austin; and Roddick lives on Lake Austin, not Lake Travis. While you did use the generic term “hills” to describe where they live, it makes it seem like they both live on Lake Travis when neither does.
Nitpicking? No. It’s the least egregious example of some really shoddy writing here.
I too have spent countless hours on Lake Travis, and I’ve seen the LCRA pull over a friggin sailboat that was in the middle of a regatta. It was full of nothing but white folks, who were not breaking a single law. So this implication that all white people on the lake get a pass is ridiculous.
Additionally, Lake Travis is a flood control lake. So depending on how much rain the area gets, it’s level can rise and fall fairly substantially over a few weeks. This is important because there are some places in the lake that go from being safe to shallow in a short period of time. And inexperienced boaters can and do get into trouble. It seems like almost yearly there is at least one instance of an accident at night where an intoxicated boater hit a shallow spot—one that maybe two weeks before was safe—and fatalities result.
The law enforcement on the Lake is actually there to keep things safe, and do it in an environment where there is tons of drinking. Just hang out in Devil’s Cove for one weekend afternoon and you’ll see it everywhere. It’s not illegal, and it’s fun—believe booze, plus hot chicks in bikinis, plus lake does equal an ass load of fun—but it can also become very unsafe very quickly.
I’m no defending the LCRA and maybe Benson was treated harshly. I wasn’t a witness. I don’t know. I don’t want to defend the officers or attack the victim.
But this notion that Lake Travis is a haven where rich white people run amok and black people get arrested a pepper-sprayed simply because they are black is just stupid.
I have been on a boat that was pulled over….wasn’t fun, but I’d rather them do that then get slammed by a drunk driver. Our driver passed the test, they let you wait off the boat for 15 minutes, then do some standard tests. They weren’t cruel at all…makes you think about it though.
TK, are you implying that because this was your experience, that Cedric Benson would also share the same exact experience with the police?
Michael, let me guess…………your white? Racial profiling doesnt exist, thats crazy talk.
The same sh*t has happened to me….. I’m white, but then I told them my father was a respected judge, so then he proceeded to let me go. Man its good to be white!!
It’s like my grandfather always said…let’s vote white!
Who cares what color skin Mike is? If he has lots of experience on Lake Travis, its relevant, just like the author’s experiences. Clearly, the author has his take - and Mike’s take - about the lake levels and his experience with the officer’s - adds more depth.
I don’t think Mike’s assertion had anything to do with whether profiling exists. It may have been a factor in this instance - but the rest of have no idea what the circumstances were that led the officers to check out Benson’s craft. Until that is presented, kindly STFU.
Racial profiling does exist, and it exists for a reason. Just like in gambling, the gambler always plays the odds to win. As police officers play the odds when driving down the street, they see a bunch of black thugs riding around blaring their jungle music, while basically laying down while driving. The odds are that they have some guns or drugs on their possesion. It exists for a reason!!!
There’s definitely a lot of factual information that’s incorrect here. Lake AUSTIN ( aka the Colorado River) is the lake in the “tony” part of Austin. That’s where Roddick, Bullock et al live. Lake Travis is way out west of the city, up in a kind of canyon/hilly area. There are some nice parts, but it is HUGE and there are just as many regular folk and public parts, if not mostly that. It doesnt sound like the author is terribly familiar with the area, so it doesnt make much sense to rely on his account.
Don’t worry about Dwil fudging the facts, he will not let the truth get in the way of him writing a false story that promotes his racist world view.
If it exists for a reason, it is a stupid “reason.”‘ Statistics show that whites use illegal drugs at a rate equal to or higher than blacks and also sell drugs in proportionate numbers.
yet a black man is 12 times more likely to go to jail ( more likely to be stopped and when caught with the same stuff more likely to be charged/OVERcharged and more likely to actually be prosecuted) for drugs.
And as far as guns, most white people believe in the right to bear arms…when it comes to WHITE people anyway. What makes a black man with a gun and/or a drugs a “thug” yet a white guy doing the same thing just a guy who likes to chill out and protect his family? If anything ,if you believe in the right to self defense, you should be MORE sympathetic to black people who carry guns, especially those who live in “bad” neighborhoods.
Racial profiling proponents are idiots, and more importantly are opposed to equal application of the law. In other words, racist anti-American douchebags.
Johnny C,
Your unassailable kung-fu of logic is probably falling on deaf ears.