Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain was arrested on Tuesday for providing a false name when he was pulled over. At least, that’s why the police say he was arrested. McClain says he was arrested because the police are corrupt and out to get him.
It probably won’t help McClain’s case that the “false name” he gave police was an expletive.
According to the police in Decatur, Alabama, an officer saw a car being driven with a driver’s side window tinted so dark that the officer couldn’t see anyone inside at all, and so the officer pulled the car over. That car was driven by McClain, and when the officer approached the car, McClain rolled the window down all the way and refused to let the officer inspect the window. Asked for his driver’s license and proof of insurance, McClain said only, “You know who I am.”
The officer told McClain that he needed to inspect the window, but McClain refused to allow the inspection, saying that his doctor had diagnosed him with sensitivity to light and that he was therefore exempt from the tinted-window laws. Eventually, after the officer called a police supervisor to the scene, McClain allowed his window to be inspected and was given a citation for his window being too dark.
At that point, McClain was asked to sign the citation, and he wrote in the space for the signature, “F--k y’all.”
Officers asked McClain to put his real name on the ticket, and McClain answered, “That is my name.” At that point, McClain was arrested for providing a false name.
The Decatur Daily caught up with McClain to ask him what happened, and he pointed the finger at the police.
“I’m falsely accused of everything,” McClain said. “It’s corrupt. It’s terrible.”
Asked if he thinks the police are out to get him, McClain said, “Yes. You said it. I answered it.”
McClain will have his day in court on the charges of providing a false name. But if McClain is being mistreated by the police, there are probably better ways for him to go about defending himself than writing an expletive on a ticket for tinted windows.