As if the Michigan State Spartans football team didn’t already have enough off-field distractions to deal with, they received yet another on Thursday.
Spartans DE Demetrius Cooper was arrested and faced a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery after allegedly spitting in the face of an East Lansing parking enforcement officer. He entered a plea deal in March, meaning that the charges would be dismissed this November if he complies with his bond conditions.
Sounds easy, right?
However, Cooper decided it would be a good idea to violate one of the conditions of his plea deal by drinking from what appears to be a liquor bottle – on his own Snapchat.
It appears that MSU's Demetrius Cooper incriminated himself by Snapchat-ing himself drinking what appears to be alcohol. https://t.co/Mo25w0W8Py
— David Harns (@DavidHarns) May 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/MikeSpartan99/status/855680828675944448
Filming himself violating the terms of his plea deal that would reduce an assault charge to a mere littering fine? Yeah, certainly not Cooper’s brightest moment.
Last season, Cooper amassed 23 tackles (14 solo, 6 for loss) with 2.5 sacks and five QB hurries in 12 games as a redshirt junior. Over his first three seasons played, he’s racked up 55 tackles and 8.5 sacks in 38 games played.
Cooper started on a defensive line that struggled mightily to create any pressure against opposing quarterbacks, and is projected to start once again in the fall. Now, that might not happen.
Via the Detroit Free Press:
“Michigan State’s senior defensive end is accused of violating the terms of his March 16 plea deal by consuming alcohol, according to documents from 54B District Court. The order to show cause was generated April 27 after “the defendant consumed alcohol on/about (April 21).”
The 22-year-old from Chicago has a hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. May 11 and could be found in contempt of court after accepting a plea deal for a November 2016 misdemeanor assault charge that he spit in the face of an East Lansing Parking and Code Enforcement officer’s face. That assault charge was supposed be dismissed in November and lessened to a littering fine if Cooper complied with his bond conditions, one of which was not drinking alcohol.”
Most people know not to blow their opportunity for a second chance. Unfortunately, that thought didn’t occur to Cooper.