This is awful, but former NBA champion and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace was sentenced to a year in jail after entering a plea of no contest following his arrest for leaving the scene of a crash last month.
We can remember Wallace handling Shaquille O’Neal his business in the 2004 NBA Finals and scaring the bejesus out of opponents who dared to challenge him at the rim during his prime. But now we’ll remember him for his reckless behavior while behind the wheel.
Wallace — who served a year’s probation in 2011 for drunken driving and gun possession charges after a traffic stop in September that year — was given a one year jail sentence, but a county judge suspended all but two days of his sentence, which he began serving Tuesday.
By way of WTVR:
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) – Former NBA and Virginia Union University basketball star Ben Wallace entered a plea of no contest after he was arrested Tuesday for leaving the scene of a February car crash.
Wallace received a one year jail sentence.
The Henrico County judge suspended all but two days of the sentence. Wallace started serving his two day sentence Tuesday.
“It’s kind of light for a situation like that,” said Tim Olive who lives near the scene of where the crash happened.
CBS 6 Legal Expert, Todd Stone said it may sound like a light sentence, but Wallace’s punishment is not unreasonable.
“This looks like the type of situation you would see when a prosecutor could have difficulty proving a case, and they’re trying to work out some plea agreement that’s kind of right in the middle,” said Stone.
Last month a SUV registered to Wallace slammed into a fence outside a home off Gaskins Rd. and Peppertree Dr. in Henrico’s West End.
“It was dark, but it’s clear from here I saw one person trying to fight to get out of the car,” homeowner Silverio Acosta said in an interview last month.
Once the man got out of the SUV, Acosta said he saw the man pick up and smash pieces of wood against the fence “because he was angry.”
We hope Wallace gets some help in retirement before he puts more lives at risk on the road.
(WTVR)
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