So, what do you think of Reggie McNeal? You can’t blame him entirely for his first guest appearance on the police scope. He’s the one that asked Odell Thurman to drive his vehicle because Gary Barnett told him so. To me, he was not at fault here. Odell was. So I gave McNeal a free pass for handing his keys over.
His latest case, as of now, is an example of half-known facts demonizing McNeal. We know he had a throw down with an off-duty police officer after being told a nightclub was closed at two in the morning. But the key here is off-duty. He didn’t throw down with an officer decked out in his police uniform – he was by all definition, a bouncer. Maybe this was a case of McNeal having an alternate personality.
The Enquirer article says:
OK, so let me get this straight. A guy that's an off-duty police officer not wearing his police officer uniform, says it's closed. McNeal became abusive with profanity -- how DARE you use profanity. Then when he smelt alcohol on McNeal's breath THAT is when he arrested him? Imagine if your McNeal trying to get subdued by a guy wearing street clothes without McNeal knowing he's an off-duty cop. For all McNeal knows, he was getting thrown down by some guy rather than a cop. I think most of us would react the same. Did the off-duty cop say he was a cop before the throw-down? Was there a badge shown?
I won't condone his act, but I won't demonize the guy either after reading suspect information. I could be wrong. I don't think we should rush to judgment either.
McNeal absent following arrest [Enquirer]