Parker and his act of pure dumbness

Again, what an act of pure stupidity from him… heres the story from Philly.com

Had Juqua Parker been arrested for possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana in the offseason, perhaps back home in the Houston area, the incident might never have made TV or the newspapers. The NFL would have found out, and it would have made him subject to increased testing as part of its substance-abuse program. A suspension would have been likely only if it were not his first offense.

Parker, though, had the misfortune to be discovered with a small bag of marijuana in Bethlehem, as a passenger in teammate Todd Herremans’ van early yesterday, during training camp, where every news outlet serving Eagles Nation is in attendance. So Parker’s “no comment” was delivered to a couple dozen cameras and microphones, in a virtual “perp walk” off the field following the afternoon practice.

Unless the team’s starting left defensive end indeed is a repeat offender – something the NFL won’t confirm or deny – the story likely will die down quickly, but it certainly spiced up an already eventful Wednesday that included promising hints about Brian Westbrook’s injury, Jeremy Maclin’s first practice, and team chairman Jeffrey Lurie’s annual state-of-the-team address.

“We’re aware of the incident on Juqua Parker, and obviously there is nothing I can comment on at the moment,” coach Andy Reid said after the morning practice, which Parker did not attend. Parker had the morning off, as a 31-year-old member of Reid’s “30 and over” club. “It’s in the law’s hands right now, and as time goes on I’ll know more.”

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Parker’s arrest “is under review like any matter of this nature.”

The Northampton County criminal complaint alleges that Lower Saucon patrolman Eric Marth “stopped a Ford van bearing [Herremans’ Pennsylvania plates] for traveling south on Route 378 without headlights and for making a left turn onto North Mountain Drive from Route 378 where signs prohibit such turn” at 12:33 a.m.

In fact, there is a jughandle for left turns at the intersection, with a “No Turns” sign posted above. The players would have wanted to turn left if they were returning to the nearby Lehigh dorms where they are staying, and where Reid said he had established a 1 a.m. curfew, after giving the team the evening off from meetings.

The complaint alleges that “a strong odor of marijuana was emitting from the interior of the vehicle” and that Marth “opened the rear passenger door for officer safety and discovered a bag containing green vegetable matter under the seat of Juqua Parker and a water bottle containing one blunt to the right of Parker’s seat.”

The complaint concludes that “Parker openly admitted that the items belonged to him and was subsequently taken into custody.”

Lower Saucon Township Police Chief Guy Lesser told the Daily News that Herremans’ van had pulled from a business establishment onto Route 378. The only business establishment that would be open at night on Route 378 north of the intersection in question, for at least a mile, is “Glow,” a place whose sign identifies it as a “bar and gentlemen’s club.” It sits about three-tenths of a mile north of the intersection.

Lesser did not confirm that “Glow” was the establishment in question, but he acknowledged it was the only business in the immediate area. Lesser said the report said two women were in the car with Herremans and Parker. They were identified as Amanda Lucik, 22, of Emmaus, and Andrea Mainiero, 21, of Zionville.

When a man who identified himself as the manager answered the phone last night at Glow, he was asked if Parker and Herremans were at the club Tuesday night.

“Nope,” he said.

“Not at all,” he was asked.

“Nope,” he said.

“OK, and what is your name?” he was asked.

He then hung up.

Lucik did not respond to a message from the Daily News and Mainiero declined comment.

An administrator at Northhampton County Prison in Easton said Parker was released after posting $1,000 bail around 5:30 a.m.

Herremans, 26, participated in both practices yesterday, but reporters didn’t know of his connection to the incident until he had left the locker room following the morning workout, greeting them as he departed. After the p.m. practice, Herremans declined to comment, wearing his helmet to foil the cameras, walking behind a protective wedge of offensive linemates.

Herremans, a fourth-round draft choice in 2005, has twice been held out from starting games for disciplinary reasons, officially for being late to meetings.

Herremans’ van is often a subject of joking with teammates and reporters, over its ominous appearance, and the likelihood that it might attract the interest of law enforcement. It is an older-model Econoline, painted flat black, with a blacked-out grill and wheels and large, off-road tires. Its windows are tinted. Yesterday afternoon, as it sat underneath a basketball hoop in the players’ parking lot, it needed a wash.

The last Eagle arrested on marijuana charges (as far as we know) was defensive tackle Mike Patterson, in February 2008. Patterson was sitting in a car stopped alongside a South Jersey road when an officer investigated and discovered a small amount of pot. Patterson presumably underwent increased testing, but was not publicly disciplined by the team.

Reporters attempted to talk to Patterson yesterday about how Reid had handled his arrest, but Patterson turned to an Eagles spokesman who told him “Eagles coach Andy Reid says ‘no comment.’ ” So no insight was gleaned there.

A Nov. 16, 2001, marijuana incident, in which three Eagles riding in an SUV with the windows down were apprehended on South Street, brought a sharp response from Reid. Correll Buckhalter, Darrel Crutchfield and Terrence Carroll were suspended for a game, and Carroll, the only player charged by police, ultimately was released. That happened during the season, in fact, 2 days before a game at Dallas.

Parker joined the Eagles as a last-minute training-camp addition in 2005, when Jerome McDougle was seriously wounded in a Miami-area shooting the night before he was scheduled to report. Parker – known as Juqua Thomas before changing his name last year, to honor his late father, Willie – has been a pleasant surprise. He is most effective playing limited snaps, because he tends to wear down, but only two other undrafted NFL players have surpassed Parker’s 17.5 sacks – including the postseason – since 2006.