NFL Player Explains Why He Ran From Police Officers

After a long night of partying in January, Pittsburgh Steeler tight end Jonathan Dekker found himself in trouble in Old Town Alexandria. A cabdriver called police, saying Dekker and his friends were trying to skip out on a fare, and an officer at the scene announced that he was going to arrest Dekker for being drunk in public.

Dekker said yesterday that didn't want to distract his team by getting arrested just days before the Super Bowl. So he did what came naturally: He ran.

But with an injured right knee and a dead-end alley in front of him, he made it two blocks before police caught him. Police pepper-sprayed and handcuffed him. In the course of the arrest, Dekker, 25, initially told police that his last name was Richards. He then gave them his real name.

"We had the Super Bowl coming, and I knew what that publicity would have done to our team," Dekker said yesterday outside the Alexandria courtroom where he stood trial on charges of obstruction of justice.

Dekker's attorney, John J. McDermott, argued that Dekker might have run from police and given a false name but that doesn't mean he obstructed justice.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Burtka contended that Dekker tried to elude police, disobeyed officers' orders to get on the ground and struggled with police, all of which support the charge.

Alexandria General District Court Judge Becky J. Moore heard the evidence and is expected to announce her verdict tomorrow. Dekker faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Dekker, who lives in Wisconsin, was in Alexandria visiting a college friend from Princeton when the incident occurred. He was not going to play in the Super Bowl the following weekend; he was on the injured reserve list because of his knee.

The friends spent the evening partying at nightclubs in the District and finished early in the morning in Georgetown, McDermott said. They took a cab to the 1600 block of King Street, near where the friend lived.

Dekker had been paying for cabs all night and asked his friend to pay the fare, McDermott said. Dekker then went inside, leaving his friend in the taxi. Minutes later, at 3:30 a.m., the friend called Dekker saying that he didn't have cash and that the cabdriver was threatening him, McDermott said.

Dekker said he returned and found his friend and the cabdriver arguing over the fare. Then police showed up, and the situation went from bad to worse.

"I was just scared," said Dekker, who is now a free agent. "I panicked."

In the end, his arrest did not distract the Steelers. The next weekend, the team won its sixth Super Bowl title, beating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23.