In 2001, Bieniemy was hired as Colorado’s running backs coach, but was arrested in April of that year for a DUI. As a known legend in the program, Bieniemy was also a major figure in the recruiting process. During his two years there, several rape allegations were pressed against Colorado players, and Bieniemy’s time there ended while the school was under investigation.
https://www.sportscasting.com/chiefs...ainst-a-woman/
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Colorado police arrested Bieniemy and teammate Kanvavis McGhee following a February 1998 bar fight. Bieniemy was charged with disorderly conduct and fighting in public, but he pleaded no contest. He and McGhee each received deferred sentences and performed court-mandated community service.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Bienemy pleaded no contest after allegedly shoving a firefighter on July 4, 1990. Colorado suspended Bieniemy for one game in the upcoming season.
Colorado police once again arrested Bieniemy, then in the NFL, in September 1993. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Bieniemy allegedly grabbed a female parking attendant by the neck and threatened her.
The University of Colorado Boulder banned Bieniemy from its campus for one year as a result.
According to the Daily Bruin, Colorado police arrested Bieniemy on a DUI charge in April 2001, three months after he joined the football staff as a running backs coach. He previously had his driver’s license suspended after numerous violations.
Bieniemy was also linked to allegations that Colorado’s football program “used alcohol and sex to lure recruits.” ESPN reported in 2004 that the university discovered there was evidence of drugs and alcohol being used to “entice recruits,” but no university officials were guilty of misconduct.
Bieniemy left Colorado after the 2002 season to take the same position at UCLA.
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Jesus fuck. This was a day after he was drafted in 1991! He sounds like a typical college athlete who'd had his ass kissed his entire life and never took responsibility for anything wrong that he'd done.
I don't think these guys exist in the same manner in 2021 as they did in the 80's, or at least I hope not. I had several friends play at major colleges, so I saw some of this behavior first hand.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...497-story.html
SAN DIEGO — Before they give running back Eric Bieniemy the football, the Chargers might want to ask for his car keys. Bieniemy, Colorado’s all-time scoring and rushing leader, arrived Monday in San Diego after being selected in Round 2 of the NFL draft a day earlier, then tried to explain why the police want him as badly as the Chargers.
A bench warrant has been issued in Colorado for Bieniemy’s arrest for failing to appear in Garfield Associate County Court on charges of driving with a suspended license and for speeding. “It was a mix-up in court dates,” Bieniemy said.
This latest scrape with the law, however, has nothing to do with Bieniemy’s May 1 pretrial conference in Boulder on charges of leaving the scene of an accident. “That, too, was also a misunderstanding,” a smiling Bieniemy said.
It should also not be confused with the three previous traffic violations that led to the suspension of his driving privileges or his plea of no contest to charges of interfering with a firefighter on duty last July 4.
“That was another odd incident that happened,” Bieniemy said.
And that business about pleading no contest to disorderly conduct charges for a barroom brawl--that’s old news.
“That was another unfortunate mishap,” Bieniemy said.
Aurora assistant city attorney Mike Hyman, however, told the Rocky Mountain News in Denver that Bieniemy’s most recent problems with the law might jeopardize the eight-month deferred judgment he received in September for interfering with a firefighter.
“Does that make him a bad player?” said Coach Dan Henning.
General Manager Bobby Beathard said the Chargers did their homework on Bieniemy before the draft, and he said this is one fine young man.
However, trouble pursues Bieniemy like a hyperactive linebacker.
It began his freshman year at CU when he responded to a racial slur in a bar by becoming embroiled in a fight. A year later, Bieniemy was ticketed in Westminster, Colo., for driving a defective vehicle and received two points on his driving record. Drivers in Colorado are allowed eight points on their driving records before their driving privileges are suspended.
Three months later Bieniemy was ticketed in Aurora for speeding and four more points were added to his record. An improper left turn in October last year resulted in another ticket, three points and the suspension of his license. His license was to remain suspended until this October.
On March 21, however, he was stopped on I-70 outside Rifle, Colo., going 92 m.p.h. in a 65 m.p.h. zone. “I thought it was 84 m.p.h. or something,” Bieniemy said. “I was coming out to California on spring break.” Kathy Schouten, the clerk of Garfield Associate County Court, said Bieniemy will have to post a $1,000 bond to free himself from the bench warrant, and then still will have to answer charges of driving with a suspended license and speeding.
“He was summoned to appear on April 10 and called and said he had no way of getting here and was granted a continuance to April 17,” Schouten said. “He failed to appear. It’s a mandatory appearance; it can’t be handled just through the mail.”
Bieniemy said his Denver-based lawyer, Richard Myers, was handling the matter for him. “If you have any questions, call him,” he said. Myers’ secretary said he was out of town and unavailable for comment. “No attorney has been in contact with us,” Schouten said.
Bieniemy’s mother, Fern St. Cyr, acknowledged her son’s license had been suspended but was upset with the attention afforded to the bench warrant that was issued April 17. “His attorney has seen about it,” she said. “I don’t know why it got out or what’s going on. You know how the press is here (in Denver). Whenever something happens with Eric, it’s faxed all over the nation.” Bieniemy faces 10 to 90 days in jail, fines of $10 to $300 and 12 additional points added to his driving record if he’s found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident. “I thought once you exchanged information you could leave the scene,” he said. “I went home and reported it to the police and then they arrested me for leaving the scene.”
Bieniemy reportedly told the police he was only a passenger in his friend’s car at the time of the accident, but the driver of the other car identified Bieniemy as the driver.“Are you thinking of getting a chauffeur?” asked a reporter after listening to Bieniemy’s driving escapades. “That’s cold,” Bieniemy said. “That’s cold.” Bieniemy, however, might be headed for more hot water.
Last July 4, firefighters responded to a call at the home of Bieniemy’s mother in Aurora. Bieniemy allegedly identified himself to authorities as his brother after allegedly throwing a forearm into a firefighter.
“My little brother had put some fireworks in a plastic bag, and so the fire started and we put it out,” Bieniemy said. “Since the fire was next to the wall, they thought it was electrical. I said, ‘Excuse me, sir, the fire started in the trash bag.’ “I feel that if somebody is going to tear down your wall you should stop them. But basically I interfered with fire department policy. “There was no contact whatsoever. If you check it out, there was no contact. Look at the charges.”
Bieniemy pleaded no contest to the charge of interfering with a firefighter, and charges of harassment and providing false information were dismissed. Judgment was deferred, and
Bieniemy was instructed to do 40 hours of community service and attend an eight-hour firefighting training session. Bieniemy, however, said the firefighting training session was “an option. That was optional,” and he said he chose not to do it.
But Hyman, Aurora’s assistant city attorney, said it was not optional. It was one of the stipulations he agreed to when he pleaded no contest. He said Bieniemy’s case will be reviewed in May, and the results of the other charges might impact the outcome.
Bieniemy was suspended for Colorado’s season opener by Coach Bill McCartney because of his problem with the Aurora fire department, and the organizers of the Doak Walker Award would not allow Bieniemy’s name to appear on the ballot for the selection of the nation’s top running back. “Eric has experienced problems that cast serious doubts regarding his citizenship,” wrote Walker Sterring Committee chairman, William Lively, in a letter to CU. Bieniemy went on to finish third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and gained 1,628 yards last season with a 5.7-yard average.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs since I’ve been in college,” Bieniemy said. “Maybe more downs that ups. I’m growing. I’m developing. I’m a young man, and you learn through bad events how to become a good person. “When I got to the plane today, I said to myself, ‘Oh, God, they’re (reporters) are going to eat me up today. I better be ready.” He was. He took on all questions and had an answer for each one. “I’m a good person,” he said. “I can understand the impression some people will have because that’s the impression I’d get, too. But I feel once everybody gets to know me, everybody’s opinion will change.”
The Chargers like what they see. He fumbled 21 times in his career but remained highly productive. They have a 5-foot-7 running back who can cover 40 yards in 4.45 seconds and bench-press 330 pounds. “When he was recruited out of high school (quarterbacks coach) Ted Tollner tried to recruit him at USC, and Ted said he was one of the most quality kids he ever went after,” Henning said. “My son has had two wrecks since we came to San Diego and he’s a pretty good kid.
“I’m not worried . . . I’ve had guys here who spit on sportswriters. I think this is a good pick. I don’t think you can ever be caught without enough good running backs. And this is a good one.”
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