Authors: Jeff Benedict,Don Yaeger
Mrs. Darroux later corroborated Cooksey’s account to a criminal investigator. “The moment she picked up the phone, he sprang out of the chair, jumped across me,” said Mrs. Darroux in her police statement. “It was like a football tackle. Straight across me, straight into her and push[ed] her into the window.”
Both Richard and his father went to Cooksey’s rescue, pulling Thomas off her. In the struggle, the library was trashed. Cooksey climbed back under the desk, hiding in fear as the men tried to restrain Thomas. A 911 call was placed for police assistance. Before the dust settled, Thomas’s rage left red marks on Cooksey’s throat, scratches on her left biceps, a large bump and bruise on her right triceps, and a red bruise on her right arm. He also caused over $700 in property damage, putting a hole through the wall, shattering a window, breaking a lamp, and destroying various objects on and around the desk.
Realizing that police had been called, Thomas tried to reassure everyone that there was no longer any threat of danger to Cooksey. “I’m calm,” Thomas said unconvincingly. “I have it under control.” He then exited the house and hurried toward his truck. Mrs. Darroux followed him outside while one of her children placed a second 911 call, trying frantically to get police to come quicker.
“Where’s he at now?” the 911 operator asked.
“Sir, I hope he’s outside of the house,” Mrs. Darroux’s son said.
“What does he look like?”
“Oh though, he’s with my mother and I don’t want to leave him alone with my mother, so could you just please get somebody here?”
“Someone’s on the way out there. But what does he look like?”
“Um, he’s 6’4, his name is Lamar Thomas. He plays football for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s 170, 75 pounds, a goatee. He’s medium to dark skin. He’s wearing a pair of blue jeans.”
Five days after the attacks, Cooksey gave her formal statement over the telephone to Detective Cindy Costanza of the City of Plantation Police Department. By then Cooksey’s bruises had darkened, looking much worse than they did when the police photographed them on the day of the incident. However, Cooksey’s primary concern was the fetus she was carrying.
“I spoke with my doctor on Saturday regarding my pregnancy and whether or not it should be terminated or whether or not it still lived,” Cooksey told Officer Costanza.
“You did?” asked Costanza.
“It’s just that it’s a big decision that I’m gonna have to make in terms of whether or not I want him to father this child,” said Cooksey.
Costanza’s chief concern related to the fetus as well, but for reasons different than Cooksey’s. While domestic violence is treated as a misdemeanor in Florida, assaulting a pregnant woman a is classified as a felony. “Can you tell me about the pregnancy?” asked Costanza. “Did [Lamar] know that you were pregnant?”
“Oh yeah, yeah,” said Cooksey. “He even bought me the book called ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting.’ Lamar had wanted a baby for quite some time and that was sort of a problem that we were having in our relationship…. I have a year of school to go. We’re not married yet.”
On July 10, a warrant was issued for Thomas’s arrest on two felony counts of aggravated battery against a pregnant female. One week later, the Buccaneers released Thomas. A player who wished to remain unnamed told the authors that the Buccaneers dropped Thomas as a result of his arrest. Buccaneers officials, when contacted by authors, refused to confirm that there was a relationship between Thomas’s case and his release. “We’re not going to talk about that,” said communications director Reggie Roberts. “We have no comment.”
Not ten days passed before Dolphins newly hired head coach Jimmy Johnson signed Thomas to a contract. Johnson had coached Thomas in college at the University of Miami and insisted that he deserved a “second chance.”
“Jimmy Johnson recruited Lamar to the University of Miami,” explained Thomas’s defense attorney and agent, Howard Weinberg. “Jimmy Johnson left when Lamar got there, but Jimmy was aware of the type of person that Lamar was. Jimmy realized that Lamar was the type of guy who was worth saving. Lamar was lucky because there wasn’t just Jimmy there, Gary Stephens was there too. And they are both well aware that of all the receivers who have played at the University of Miami, and it’s quite a distinguished list, Lamar is the all-time leading receiver in the history of the University of Miami.”
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fter her physician determined that the fetus had not suffered any fatal injuries, Cooksey opted to go through with the pregnancy. The Darrouxes, meanwhile, received a call from Thomas’s attorney, Howard Weinberg. “He [Weinberg] apologized,” Darroux told the police, “and said that he [was] gonna make sure the bills get paid and he’s going to take care of it, see that [Lamar] gets counseling and … make sure it doesn’t happen again,” according to court documents.
However, it did happen again—and the problem was not taken care of. After appearing in nine games for the Dolphins in 1996 while his lawyers successfully delayed the disposition of his case until after the season, Thomas was sentenced to eighteen months’ probation for aggravated battery on a pregnant female on February 24, 1997. He was also ordered to spend ten days in Broward County Jail, which was to be served on the weekends, and to complete a thirteen-week Batterer Intervention Program at LifeLine in Miami.
The Dolphins then offered Thomas a new contract on March 11, 1997. Three weeks later, Thomas assaulted Cooksey again. On March 29, Metro Dade police were dispatched to the couple’s Coconut Grove home. Cooksey, at this point, had given birth to a baby boy who was now six weeks old.
Upon arrival, the officers found Thomas holding the newborn. Cooksey was discovered in the couple’s bedroom crying. Her underwear was torn and there were scratches on her right hand, left shoulder, and neck. After she told Officer Grass that Thomas tore her underwear three times and choked her, he was arrested, issued his Miranda rights, and escorted to the back of the police cruiser.
After Thomas’s arrest, probation officers learned that he had yet to begin the counseling program that was part of his probation. A subsequent report signed by correctional probation supervisor Jasmine V. Seligman and correctional probation officer Dorett Jones recommended that Thomas’s “probation be extended to twenty-four months, with a longer period of counseling. Thus giving [Thomas] a chance to change his temper and be able to live as a law abiding citizen.” The report also indicated that Thomas had accumulated eighty-eight total sentencing points, which carries a maximum of seventy-five months in state prison.
Johnson’s initial decision to hire Thomas in 1996 came before the talented receiver had been formally convicted of anything. By the time the team re-signed him a year later, Thomas was a convicted felon. Now he was charged with assaulting his fiancÉe again, and found to be in violation of his probation. Did any of this change Thomas’s playing status with the Dolphins? Not exactly.
There were no reported disciplinary measures taken by the team. No ultimatums laid down. But Weinberg said that the team strongly encouraged Thomas to seek counseling. “There are selfish motives [on the part of the Dolphins], arguably, because they want him to be the best player possible,” explained Weinberg. “But they’re saying, ‘If you want to reach your full potential, then you have to be able to meet the challenge of dealing with the problems off the field.’ No one is capable of completely separating his personal life with his professional life. These things bleed through.”
Jimmy Johnson declined to be interviewed on his decision to continue playing Thomas.
The authors did, however, interview other former Dolphins familiar with the Thomas case. “The role of the coach to win plays a large role to how they respond to these situations,” said ex-Miami Dolphin defensive back Liffort Hobley in an interview for this book. Hobley worked for the Dolphins when running back Irving Spikes was arrested for beating his wife in 1995. Don Shula was the head coach then, and Hobley saw stark differences in the way the Spikes and Thomas cases were handled.
On August 26, 1995, Pembroke Pines police officers responded to a domestic violence complaint at the Spikes residence. According to the police report, Spikes choked his wife and struck her in the face before throwing her to the floor. Stacey Spikes sustained injuries to the neck, knees, and right foot. The following day, Shula met with Spikes, who was entering his second season in the NFL. Despite not yet being convicted of anything, Spikes was informed by Shula that he was on disciplinary probation for a full year. Any more incidents, and he’d be dismissed.
“Domestic violence is definitely something that Shula would not condone,” said Hobley, who actively worked with Spikes in an attempt to help him get counseling. “Shula made sure Spikes got into counseling. It was mandatory. He had to go at least two hours a week. Spikes felt threatened for his job.”
According to Hobley, after Spikes met with Shula, he said, “If I get cut from here, who’s going to give me an opportunity after this guy [Shula] cuts me? Everybody respects him.” Spikes pleaded no contest to battery on May 16, 1996. However, as of the publication of this book, Spikes has had no further contact with law enforcement pertaining to domestic violence. He was cut by the Dolphins during the 1998 off season.
In contrast, Thomas faced no apparent disciplinary action from Johnson. Nor was Thomas required to fulfill his obligation to attend anger management courses. “Under Shula, anything that you did and got caught doing it, you were gone—no matter who you were,” according to Hobley. ‘”Anything happens outside the realm of this organization that I hear about, and there’s no question that you did it, you’re out of here,’ Shula used to say.”
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n April 24, 1997, Judge Geoffrey D. Cohen signed a warrant for Thomas’s arrest for violating the terms of his probation. It read in part, “the probationer did commit the offense of Simple Battery on March 29, 1997, as alleged in Dade Circuit Court….” Thomas was again arrested and jailed pending his trial. It wasn’t until Thomas was incarcerated, according to Weinberg, that Thomas started to confront his problem. One day while Weinberg was visiting Thomas at the Broward County Jail, a guard knocked on the door of their private cubicle and interrupted the conversation. “It’s time,” the guard said to Thomas.
“Time for what?” Weinberg asked Thomas.
Weinberg soon discovered that a group of at-risk teenagers were touring the jail in conjunction with a Scared Straight program. Thomas, when he found out about their visit, had volunteered to speak to the youths. According to Weinberg, Thomas stood up in front of the boys, wearing his jailhouse jumpsuit, and told them, “I’m locked up in here. I have a baby at home. I’m sending him the wrong signal. And I play football in the NFL, so you probably think I’m pretty tough. Well, guess what? I’m not too tough to cry. You never ever want to be in the situation I’m in.”
Prosecutors suddenly dropped the charges against Thomas on May 14 and he was released from jail. Cooksey had decided not to testify against Thomas, leaving prosecutors without their prime witness.
Cooksey’s reluctance is typical of domestic violence victims, but rarely understood by individuals who have not experienced violence in the home. “Sometimes victims have good reasons for not testifying,” explained domestic violence judge Ed Newman, the former Dolphins lineman. “Domestic violence is like a dance. In this dance, one is the aggressor-perpetrator, the other is the victim. The victim adopts strategies to avoid the next beating. Some victims think, in the procedural context of a trial, that they will be beaten if they step forward as a witness. Sometimes they are concerned about retaliation. Sometimes the victim is financially and emotionally dependent on the perpetrator.”
After playing in two Super Bowls under Shula, Newman completed his law degree and was later elected to the bench. He is one of a group of Florida judges who have been assigned to hear domestic violence cases on an exclusive basis. “When there’s an apparent problem, when you see a young lady with a black eye and it happens again and again, somebody needs to intervene,” said New-man. “Not only for the good of the individuals, but for the good of the image of the league and of the Dolphins.”
Apparently nobody ever intervened on Ebony Cooksey’s behalf. Thomas got talked to many times about the need to address his problems, but there was little incentive in the way of consequences. After his incarceration, however, Weinberg said that Thomas started to take counseling quite seriously. “A black male, particularly one who plays professional sports, does not see reaching out for psychiatric help or counseling as a viable option,” explained Weinberg. “They see that as a sign of weakness. So it was of great value when Lamar stood up in front of a bank of reporters and said, ‘I need professional counseling and that doesn’t mean that I’m not a man.’”
According to Weinberg, Thomas, Cooksey, and their child were living together as of the spring of 1998. At that point in time, Thomas had been in counseling for nearly a year. Thomas declined the authors’ invitation to be interviewed for this book.
And as far as Jimmy Johnson’s motives for keeping Thomas on the roster throughout the assaults, arrests, and jail time? “They want to win games,” Weinberg said. “There’s no question about it. If they can get him to play his best, they’ve helped themselves. But I definitely noticed concern that was separate and apart from just those issues.”
When assessing whether Johnson is acting out of raw self-interest or altruism, it is difficult to overlook that in 1998 Dan Marino will be throwing the ball to two athletically gifted criminals (Thomas and Jordan have both been convicted of violent crimes).
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His own words from a press conference in October of 1997 seem to sum up his motives best. “The bottom line is production,” Johnson said.
Clear and Present Danger
“Vikings: Scandinavian warriors from the 8th century to the 10th century. They were exceedingly cruel and rapacious on their raids, and the dread they inspired facilitated their conquests.”