Hit with his own helmet

[seanofjapan]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

T

If I were the DA in whatever Ohio town this game was played in (I don't know the county for Cleveland, offhand), regardless of whether it was my team getting hit or not, I'd have officers waiting after the game to take him into custody. We're losing out morality in this country. At what point do the good people say, "enough", and start fighting back?

I think they could make a criminal case if they wanted to, but comparing it with the McSorley case there are a couple of factual differences that might explain why they wouldn't.

First is that Rudolph isn't without blame in the incident. He tried to rip Garrett's helmet off first, which probably led to Garrett responding in kind (and going way further with it of course). So the attack happened in the context of a fight in which both guys were breaking some rules. In the McSorley case in contrast, Brashear was literally just minding his own business when McSorley attacked him from behind (they had been in a fight earlier in the game, but that had long since ended at the time of the attack). McSorley's actions were thus unprovoked and pre-meditated, whereas Garrett's were more a "in the heat of the moment" thing, which I think most people see as less blame-worthy.

Second is that Rudolph wasn't actually injured in the attack (though of course he could have been). Brashear in contrast was severely injured in the McSorley attack and missed most of the rest of the season (though ironically he would go on to have a long career afterwards, while the incident and suspension effectively ended McSorley's).

These wouldn't necessarily affect the legal situation in a trial, but would probably heavily influence the decision of a prosecutor on whether to lay charges or not. In the McSorley case the public was massively outraged and demanding action against him, whereas the public reaction is, while negative, nowhere near as intense in this case.