In March, Cardinals linebacker Joey Porter was arrested for DUI and assaulting a police officer in his hometown of Bakersfield, California, but four days later authorities said he wouldn’t be charged.
Four months later, Porter looks back on the incident and says it bothers him that people didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.
“I did nothing wrong,” Porter told the Bakersfield Californian. “I was trying to order something from Taco Bell. That’s why it was all erased in [four] days. And I didn’t like the way I was portrayed. This is the first time I feel like my own hometown let me down a little bit because they kept with the story in a negative way. I’ve been holding football camps and stuff and doing so much positive stuff for Bakersfield, [and] I haven’t got that much publicity for all of the stuff I did. Then I get so much bad publicity for something I didn’t do. That’s what hurt.”
The Bakersfield Californian story portrays Porter in a positive light, noting work he does in the community and interviewing friends and family members who have good things to say about him. It’s worth reading for a different perspective on Porter.
On the other hand, Porter seems to know that some of the negative portrayals of him in the media are no one’s fault but his own.
“Everybody can make a mistake,” Porter said. “I’ve made plenty of them.”
