Ohio Police: No Preferential Treatment For NFL’s Kareem Hunt

Ohio's Rocky River Police Department is defending their officer's decision not to cite Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt after finding marijuana and a previously opened bottle of vodka in his car during a recent traffic stop.

January 31, 2020

NBC News,

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (NBC News) — Ohio’s Rocky River Police Department is defending the actions of their officer who did not cite Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt with drug possession or open container during a traffic stop last week.

The officer pulled Hunt over for speeding, but also reported finding marijuana and an opened bottle of vodka in his car.

“I lost everything already, sir,” Kareem Hunt says in dashcam video of the traffic stop. “Just give me a traffic ticket, please.”

When the officer smelled marijuana in Hunt’s car, he searched it.

The officer reported findings small amounts of marijuana and a previously opened bottle of vodka in a backpack in the back seat.

So why wasn’t Hunt cited for open container?

“When you think of open container situation, you think typically of someone drinking alcohol in the car, and in this case he was transporting a bottle of vodka that was previously opened but at the time of the stop was closed,” explains Rocky River Police Lt. George Lichman.

And what about the marijuana?

Lt. Lichman said his officers have not been citing people for possession of small amounts of marijuana since a recent change in the law, and denied Hunt was given preferential treatment.