Cousins traffic charge dropped..

[Juddism]

no issue with his sacking after the LA incident, but the AFL might well be in a bind right now.

BREAKING NEWS: WA POLICE have received legal advice that the charge laid against Ben Cousins of Refusing a Driver Assessment should be discontinued.
As a result a notice of discontinuance will be lodged in the Perth Magistrates Court later today.

The legal advice was provided after an internal review was ordered by Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan into the charging of Ben Cousins with the illegal possession of the prescription only drug diazepam, which in WA is illegal in liquid form but not in tablet form, on October 16.

The review identified some issues with how the driver assessment was conducted with Ben Cousins.

Mr Cousins was the first driver in WA to be charged under new drug driver laws, which came into affect on October 12 this year.

After close legal scrutiny of the legislation it appears that the driver assessment should be conducted by the officer who observed the motorist driving the vehicle.

In this case, because it was new legislation, the detectives who stopped Mr Cousins thought it best to take him to Traffic Headquarters for advice and to be processed.

Consequently, even though Mr Cousins declined to participate in a driver assessment, the traffic officer who attempted the driver assessment had not observed Mr Cousins driving, and therefore was not the appropriate person to conduct the assessment.

Because this is the first time this charge has been laid Police will now hold talks with the Minister for Police about ways of simplifying the administration of a driver assessment so that any police officer can do the assessment.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22751548-948,00.html

 

[Schismd]

"no issue with his sacking after the LA incident, but the AFL might well be in a bind right now."

Very much so. PSD here he comes

 

[Isandula]

Wow it just never ceases to get interesting this whole saga.

 

[Obeanie1]

Looks like Cuz gets off on another technicality.

I don't think this matters, he still refused to cooperate with Police, he sure didn't know the wrong officer asked to test him. And it looks like this loop hole will be tighted up very quickly.

If what happened in LA is correct there is no way the AFL will let him play.

If only Cuz had jumped on a plane straight after the season and Mainwaring didn't OD or whatever he did, we would be enjoying a quiet off season.

 

[Keys]

The WA police are not coming out of this too well are they.

Fair to say they completely failed in their attempts to achieve whatever it was they were trying to do.

Unless they were trying to deliberately sabotage Ben Cousins football career.

 

[Prem87]

The WA police are not coming out of this too well are they.

Fair to say they completely failed in their attempts to achieve whatever it was they were trying to do.

Unless they were trying to deliberately sabotage Ben Cousins football career.

Can he sue the WA Police as well?

 

[Keys]

Can he sue the WA Police as well?

I'm no lawyer so I really have no idea.

The simpleton in me says I doubt it, but Benny's lawyers are obviously pretty clever so who knows?

 

[blackus]

The thing that concerns me is had Cuz not been charged at all would he have ended up in LA in the state he was reportedly in? If being charged it had contributed to him thinking "I am fx%$ed anyway may as well go on a bender" its pretty sad. Our police just get more and more of a laughing stock everyday. As someone else said in another thread, cue the Benny Hill music.

 

[Keys]

The thing that concerns me is had Cuz not been charged at all would he have ended up in LA in the state he was reportedly in? If being charged it had contributed to him thinking "I am fx%$ed anyway may as well go on a bender" its pretty sad. Our police just get more and more of a laughing stock everyday. As someone else said in another thread, cue the Benny Hill music.

I look at it another way - Cousins may very well have gone on that bender in LA anyway. In which case the blowtorch on the Eagles would have been turned up to 11 as he would still have been a contracted player.

We'd be in even more shit that we are already, if that is possible.

In a curious way the cops whilst not doing any favours for Cousins may have inadvertently done the Eagles one.

 

[Makka]

I just want this whole Ben Cousins saga to go away!!

 

[Isandula]

This latest situation obviously doesn't make any difference.

West Coast says the dropping of the charges makes no difference to its decision to terminate Cousins' contract because the former captain's 'repeated and serious' breaches of his agreement with the club.

The Eagles say they made it clear when announcing the termination of Cousins' contract that the decision was not dependant on the results of the charges laid by police.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/13/2089540.htm​

 

[angel12]

after speaking with someone who works at the afl this morning they are more worried about bens health than his carrer at the moment, so he won't be playing till 09 i wouldn't think and he still broke his contract that west coast and the afl made him sign after rehab in april, and that is what the problem is there were certain stipulations put in it and ben broke them.

 

[Biggie]

Can he sue the WA Police as well?

It'll be like chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....

I feel that West Coast are the only ones who will have to pay or come to an agreement with Ben.

For we did sack him immediately whereas suspension pending the results of the court case may have been the safer option.

But I do not know the small print of Cousin's contract to speak anymore.

Ther AFLs charge will also dissolve in to nothingness as they really have no "solid" proof ( beside recent events, after he was sacked ) that he actually brought the game into disrepute.

Messy messy messy.

 

[angel12]

i think west coast are pretty safe in what they have done, from what i know ben has broken a couple of the finer points put in there

 

[Cuzz09]

He wont play again - for anyone.

 

[Willow_2000]

The AFL has s*** all on Cousins now for their "so called" charge of bringing the game into disrepute. The only thing they might have is his 5 day bender over in LA but..
1st- Its all speculation as they do not have medical records to prove it, they just have ch 9's word.
2nd- He is a sacked player even though hes still on our list i dont think its fair that they can charge him.

 

[Henneman]

Guys forgive me if I have missed something..I know Cousins had agreed to probably the strictest player contract ever in the AFL, but after these latest relevations, how exactly has be breached those terms? Yes he was pulled over and charged, but how exactly is he supposed to avoid that - the Police can obviously do as they please (no matter how incompetent they seem to be over there at the moment...)

 

[westcoastmagic]

The thing that concerns me is had Cuz not been charged at all would he have ended up in LA in the state he was reportedly in? If being charged it had contributed to him thinking "I am fx%$ed anyway may as well go on a bender" its pretty sad. Our police just get more and more of a laughing stock everyday. As someone else said in another thread, cue the Benny Hill music.

BLACKUS,

you are completely correct- if they hadnt stepped in and started this whole F***g fiasco he would not have been in LA.

It looks like a vendetta against Cousins.

PSD here he comes ya think? I bloody well hope so.

If there is ANY justice in the AFL or our system full stop they have to let him back

I hope he sues the f****ers for all theyre worth.

 

[SS_Fury]

what club would pick him up now? Too much risk in picking him up.

 

[thesmallprint]

if cousins came out against the eagles for another club would you chear him or boo him?

id give him a chear, im honestly not a big fan of any of our players now that judd and cuz have left.

dont get the idea im a bad supporter, just having a poster of darren glass on ur wall isnt the same.

 

[dicko]

The AFL has s*** all on Cousins now for their "so called" charge of bringing the game into disrepute. The only thing they might have is his 5 day bender over in LA but..
1st- Its all speculation as they do not have medical records to prove it, they just have ch 9's word.
2nd- He is a sacked player even though hes still on our list i dont think its fair that they can charge him.

It still does not excuse the fact that he refused a blood test. If you have nothing to hide then why refuse?
If you read the article he got of on bad police work as the law was new and not because he was in the right.
He will forever be tainted as druggie regardless of what anyone says and WCE Eagles have stuck by their decision based on a number of breaches

 

[WCE57]

Well, haven't the police covered themselves in glory.

I think its gone beyond when Cousins playing again. The focus should be on his health. 29 years old is young, too young to completely destroy his life. I really hope he beats this addiction.

There is will always be time for him to repair ties with the club or club people, but he just has to fully recover from his problems first.

 

[greennick]

Guys forgive me if I have missed something..I know Cousins had agreed to probably the strictest player contract ever in the AFL, but after these latest relevations, how exactly has be breached those terms? Yes he was pulled over and charged, but how exactly is he supposed to avoid that - the Police can obviously do as they please (no matter how incompetent they seem to be over there at the moment...)

Allegedly he broke his contract in a number of different ways, not including anything to do with him being pulled over. Off the top of my head, this is what I was told, he did not respond to phone calls after (so the club could not request their own test), he was seen with people he was not supposed to be around in the days/week preceding, he refused to cooperate with the authorities, and so on.

It is a shame to see him go as despite the bad rap he gets, he is a good bloke, however in the end the Eagles couldn't pretend they can handle him anymore, so he had to go.

 

[Alphanumeric]

He wont play again - for anyone.

Correct.

His career is done and dusted.

 

[Willow_2000]

Correct.

His career is done and dusted.

I reckon we'll all be suprised. I reckon maybe give him next year off to get his health back in order then in season 2009 let him play again if he has his health back and can actually prove it in some way. Doing it this way may actually help him as it gives him a goal to target and gives him a reason to try and tackle his issue. If the AFL never let him play again he might just think "stuff that" i really have nothing to lose now and may not try to overcome his problems.