Moo U Football: Travis Beck pleads guilty in resisting arrest charge

North Dakota State Bison athletic logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, Mr Anger Management Travis Beck has had his day in court and pleaded guilty to resisting arrest. Just as I predicted, the win at all cost football program will not suspend the junior line backer and he will be playing next weekend against the K-State Wild Cats.

Emily Welker, Forum News Service — North Dakota State starting linebacker Travis Beck pleaded guilty to resisting arrest charges in Cass County court Monday, a move his attorney said was designed to allow him to put this summer’s legal woes behind him without a trial interfering with the Bison football season.

“Most people think resisting is fighting — you’ve seen the video,” said Beck’s defense attorney, Bruce Quick. “That’s the wrong word for this situation — what’s he’s charged with is failing to stop” when arresting officers told Beck to stop. At the time of the incident, Quick said, Beck had just been punched in the head at least twice.

Quick was referring to surveillance video evidence released this summer which shows Beck in an apparent brawl with another man near a downtown bar.

In it, Beck can be seen walking away from arresting officers responding to the fight. The video also seems to show Beck may have acted in self-defense against the other man in the fight, Matthew Aanenson, who police found lying unconscious in a nearby downtown parking lot.

The video evidence pulled from city surveillance cameras and local businesses led the State’s Attorney’s office to drop more serious felony aggravated assault charges against Beck.

Neither Quick nor Beck appeared at Monday morning’s plea and sentencing hearing. Instead, Quick’s fellow Vogel Law attorney Mark Friese entered a plea to a B misdemeanor resisting arrest charge on Beck’s behalf.

Beck was sentenced to 10 days in jail, with all time suspended, and 360 days unsupervised probation, plus a $225 fee.

“I know Mr. Beck was anxious to pull all this behind him,” said Friese after the sentencing. “This was a relief for him … to accept responsibility and to put it behind him.”

People are going to say, why should we care Eric? I going to tell you why. This is a heck of a message to send to the kids that look up to these athletes. Win at all costs, that's the message NDSU is sending the youth of North Dakota... Remember Travis Beck is a victim. The NDSU Football team is an out of control football program.

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Bison Linebacker Travis Beck to plead guilty to resisting arrest

NDSU linebacker Travis Beck to plead guilty to resisting arrest. http://t.co/wyU8fmxk1M
— WDAZsports (@WDAZsports) August 5, 2013

What's this? I thought that there was nothing to see there folks? I thought that Travis Beck was a victim of the Fargo Police Department? Hum, this is interesting. Now, it will also be interesting to see if the NDSU football coach Craig Bohl will finally suspend Travis Beck for a game or two? I am willing to bet that Bohl will say that were handling this matter internally and nothing will happen because we all know that winning is the only things that matters.

Emily Welker, Forum News – A starting linebacker with the North Dakota State University football team is set to plead guilty to resisting arrest charges later this month.

The guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge would come after prosecutors dropped a more serious felony assault charge against Travis Beck, 21.

Both charges were linked to a brawl outside a down-town Fargo restaurant after bar closing earlier this summer in which police said Beck knocked the other man unconscious.

The more serious charges were dropped by county prosecutors after they said surveillance video from nearby businesses and police cameras showed Beck might have been acting in self-defense. The video also showed four officers converging on Beck after the fight, during which he seems to struggle as they handcuff him

Imagine if this was a UND hockey player? I would be willing to bet that we wouldn't be hearing crickets, like we are in this case. Recently, an Ohio State football player was suspended because he didn't walk away from a fight.

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• Travis Beck arrest video portrays NDSU football in a positive light (ndgoon.blogspot.com)