Bears running back Cedric Benson, once a a top draft pick before blossoming into a runner who could get 2.5 yards a carry and 60 yards per game no matter what the stakes, was arrested over the weekend for boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, the latter of which got him a faceful of pepper spray.  (Mmmmm… incapacitating.)  Benson, however, denies the charges.

According to the LCRA [Lower Colorado River Authority], an officer asked Benson, owner-operator of the boat, to do a "float" sobriety test. Detainees may be asked to follow an object with their eyes, do the alphabet and count down with their fingers. An officer said Benson failed. Authorities wanted to bring Benson ashore for more tests, the LCRA said.

Benson refused to put on a life jacket — a requirement on LCRA boats — and "presented himself as a threat to the officer and argued about whether or not he would be taken to land," authorities said. The officer arrested Benson, who kept arguing and "continued to present himself as a threat," the LCRA said. The officer then pepper-sprayed him.

Benson tells a much different story: "Even after they pepper-sprayed me, I have no idea why they did that. I was cooperative. I asked them several times why they did that, and they didn't give me an answer."

I don't really know who to believe here.  I want to throw my support behind Benson to prove I'm not racist, but the last time I took a chance on him he gave my fantasy team 60 yards a game before breaking his leg in November.  Maybe if he'd broken some tackles and scored more TDs I'd think he's innocent.  Either way, this is his penultimate headline.  He's got one more when the Bears cut him, and then we'll never hear from him again unless he does something really unexpected, like a double homicide or winning the National Spelling Bee.