Michael Irvin continued to insist Monday that the drug paraphernalia
found last week in his speeding Mercedes-Benz belonged to someone else.
"A friend," he told The Dallas Morning News as well as
The Associated Press and ESPN.
But at the time of his arrest Friday, Plano police quoted the Cowboys
Ring of Honor wide receiver saying, "It's my brother's. He left it
there."
Mr. Irvin said that police quoted him accurately but that he did not
mean one of his six biological brothers. Rather, it is an old friend he
considers "as close as a brother."
"I've known him for 17 years," he told The News on
Monday night. "To me, he's like a brother."
Citing his past drug use as well as that of several siblings, Mr. Irvin,
39, called drugs "a generational curse." He said he "needed to uproot it
from my family and friends." Mr. Irvin is the 15th in a family of 17
children – 10 girls and seven boys.
He said the breaking point with his friend came Nov. 21 while he was
working on the Monday Night Countdown set at ESPN headquarters in
Bristol, Conn. He said that when he was not on the air, he was on his
cellphone trying to counsel the friend who was staying with Mr. Irvin's
younger brother in the Dallas area.
When Mr. Irvin returned to Dallas last Tuesday, he said, he persuaded
his friend to check into a drug rehabilitation clinic in Houston. On
Thursday, however, the friend showed up at Mr. Irvin's Carrollton home,
where family and friends were celebrating Thanksgiving.
Mr. Irvin said he allowed his friend to enter his home only after
patting him down for drugs and related paraphernalia. "My children were
there," he said. "I can't have that in my house."
That's when Mr. Irvin said he found and took possession of the drug pipe
that was later discovered by police. He wanted to get rid of it, he
said, but not at his home.
"The last time I was in trouble, people went through my garbage," he
said. "I put the pipe in my car, under the driver's seat. I was going to
throw it out later."
Plano Police Department
Michael Irvin was arrested on Friday.
In 1996, Mr. Irvin pleaded no contest to felony cocaine possession and
was sentenced to four years' probation, which he successfully completed.
In 2001, on the day he retired from the Cowboys as their all-time
leading receiver, Fox Sports Net hired him as an analyst. The sides
parted ways less than a month later after his arrest in connection with
marijuana and cocaine possession in a North Dallas apartment. The
charges against him were dropped.
Top-flight analyst
Mr. Irvin, who in less than two seasons has become one of ESPN's most
visible analysts, said he did not throw away the pipe Thursday because
his Thanksgiving Day ended prematurely when he fell asleep "after all
that turkey."
Mr. Irvin said he and his wife, Sandi, left their home Friday planning
to buy furniture for a new home they've built in Plano. He was driving
north on the Dallas North Tollway in his two-door Mercedes-Benz SL55
when he was stopped for speeding between Parker Road and Spring Creek
Parkway about 2:30 p.m.
Police clocked the car at 78 mph – 18 mph more than the posted speed
limit, according to the traffic ticket that was issued. A computer check
at the scene revealed an outstanding speeding ticket warrant in Irving,
for which Mr. Irvin was arrested. An Irving municipal court judge signed
the arrest warrant for Mr. Irvin on Aug. 27 after he failed to pay a
$200 fine for speeding at more than 80 mph in a 60 mph zone. An
additional $135 was tacked on for the cost of the warrant.
When asked for permission to search the car on the tollway, Mr. Irvin
refused, according to Plano police. During the subsequent search,
however, police said they found a Versace sunglasses case under the
driver's seat that contained a multicolored pipe with marijuana residue
as well as plastic baggies containing marijuana residue.
Mr. Irvin was taken to Plano City Jail about 3:30 p.m. He was released
after paying $335 for the Irving incident and a $256 bond to Plano, said
Detective Mike Johnson, a Plano police spokesman.
"It's a pretty common citation," Mr. Johnson said of the speeding and
drug paraphernalia tickets. The drug paraphernalia charge is a Class C
misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500.
ESPN not told of arrest
Mr. Irving did not tell ESPN of the arrest when he reported to work
Sunday morning. The network learned about it after fielding inquiries
from reporters on Sunday night, network spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.
ESPN executives did not make themselves available Monday to discuss Mr.
Irvin's status at the network. The network did, however, issue a
statement.
"Michael has told us the same thing he has told the media. He has
indicated he wants to confer with his advisers, and we will continue to
have conversations with Michael," the statement said.
On Monday afternoon, he made his scheduled weekly appearance on ESPN
radio's Dan Patrick Show. Instead of the usual NFL issues, the
segment was entirely devoted to the arrest. On Monday Night Countdown
, Mr. Irvin was interviewed by Stuart Scott about the incident and reiterated
that it was his friend's pipe. Asked whether he had used drugs recently,
Mr. Irvin said he is "totally clean."
Earlier, he acknowledged to Mr. Patrick that he thought the arrest would
damage his chances of being voted into the next class of the Pro
Football Hall of Fame. He was named one of 25 semifinalists last week.
"It certainly hurts me," he said. "It's important to me, but my friends
are more important to me."
E-mail bhorn@dallasnews.com
and lsball@dallasnews.com
