The Superdome police officer whose butt was slapped on video by NFL superstar Odell Beckham Jr. after LSU’s national championship victory Monday has decided he does not want to press charges, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the case.
By Friday evening, the 48-year-old officer had signed an affidavit stating he did not wish to press charges against Beckham, 27, a day after New Orleans police obtained a warrant to book the Pro Bowl receiver on a count of simple battery, the sources said.
Video shows Beckham apparently slapping a Superdome officer's buttocks after LSU's championship game.
The NOPD could now move to rescind the warrant calling for Beckham’s arrest, on the grounds that the officer victimized in the case has essentially said he does not believe his case is a criminal matter. But it remains to be seen whether the agency takes that step.
The affidavit seems likely to gut any criminal case against Beckham, who landed in two major controversies on the sideline and in the locker room at the Superdome on Monday, Jan. 13, when LSU defeated Clemson University to win the College Football Playoff title.
Saying it was against building policy, a police officer with the Mercedes-Benz Superdome told LSU football players celebrating their national …
The arrest warrant obtained by NOPD alleges that the stadium police officer, a lieutenant, had been told to enforce the Superdome’s no-smoking policy in the LSU locker room after the championship game.
The officer ordered the players to put out celebratory cigars that they lit. While talking to one of the players, the lieutenant said he was struck on the buttocks from behind by a man that video evidence clearly showed was Beckham. Beckham was in the locker room celebrating with LSU because he formerly played for the program.
Police made it a point to note that the officer initially wanted to punch Beckham in retaliation but didn’t — a detail that was included to establish that the contact was unwanted and therefore a battery. Though he's not employed by NOPD, the officer holds a special commission that would have allowed him to arrest Beckham on the spot, but the warrant noted that he opted against it given the locker room’s “jovial atmosphere.”
A video of the encounter with Beckham soon went viral online. Early Wednesday, the Superdome officer met with NOPD and said he wanted to press charges.
The NOPD officer investigating the case initially sought a warrant to arrest Beckham for misdemeanor sexual battery, a non-expungeable crime defined as the intentional touching of the breasts or buttocks of someone who did not consent.
But the judge instead approved a warrant calling for Beckham to be booked with the lesser count of simple battery, an expungeable crime defined as “battery committed without the consent of the victim.”
News of the warrant prompted an intense backlash in some circles of social media, though it was not clear whether that factored into the officer's decision to later swear out the affidavit saying he ultimately did not wish to press charges.
College Football Playoff officials said they would review their sideline and locker room guest policies after Beckham’s recorded actions.
Another video from the night of the national championship depicted Beckham giving what appeared to be cash to at least two LSU players on the field after the game. LSU said it was cooperating with NCAA officials as they scrutinize whether any rules governing the college players’ amateur status had been broken.
The New York Giants selected Beckham in the first round of the 2014 draft. He now plays for the Cleveland Browns.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro on Friday urged NFL player Odell Beckham Jr. to surrender to police after an arrest warrant w…
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Odell Beckham Jr. butt-slap case: Superdome officer won't press charges, sources say - NOLA.com
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