It was 2:30 in the morning when Gladney crashed his car on a Dallas freeway. It just happened to be the big party weekend of Memorial Day as well. While we don't have details of the crash yet, I think we can put the pieces together her and guess that Gladney was trashed and decided to drive anyway. His girlfriend was reportedly also in the car and she too is dead.
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This incident is just one of many where sports stars seem to think that the rules that we are all subject to somehow do not apply to them. I have even less capability to understand why someone who has a lucrative contract, presumably a lot of money, and a ton of support, would get behind the wheel when they certainly have the resources to not do so.
I don't understand anyone driving under the influence but when you have a ton of money, certainly a taxi would be a better choice? Hell, just call your agent and have them arrange transport for you. Us plebs don't have this as an option and I simply cannot understand why Jeff made the choice that he did.
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The details are sketchy and there aren't very many images of the crash or information about it. I would imagine that the information is being intentionally withheld because of the fame of the person involved. Jeff Gladney was not a star player, but he was no slouch either. He also was no saint, as seems to be the tradition in the NFL with most of their players.
Jeff was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2020 and was meant to transform the team. However, he was released by the team after he was indicted on charges of domestic violence. After becoming a free-agent he was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals on a two year contract worth up to $6 million and $4 million was guaranteed. He certainly isn't the Tom Brady of the cornerback world, but a guaranteed $4 million over 2 years is the kind of money that can afford a driver, or at the minimum a taxi.
I don't have a great deal of sympathy for people who perish in drunk driving accidents and even though this has not been confirmed based on the time of day I think we can successfully say that he wasn't getting and early start on going to church. Of course there is an outpouring of support on Twitter, but when the toxicology report comes back and shows that he was hammered drunk I hope that some of these people can become activists against drunk driving. At this point I am just really happy that there were no other cars involved.
If you drink and drive, stop it. Everyone is invincible right up to the point where they aren't and in the meantime you could be endangering innocent bystanders or in this case, a girlfriend.