Innocent until proven guilty. Due process. Equal protections under the law.
And we all thought football was about tackling, not torts.
In western New York, it was about the Buffalo Bills and not the Bill of Rights.
As Bills training camp gets set to kick off, how quarterback Josh Allen, the team’s No. 1 pick is developing, will share top billing with how the investigation into a vicious attack against running back LeSean McCoy’s former girlfriend is developing.
Was McCoy behind the pistol-whipping assault against Delicia Cordon in McCoy’s Milton, Georgia mansion? A brutal attack that left her bloodied and hospitalized, her gruesome photographs circulating the Internet for the world to see and pass judgement.
Were the Cartier bracelets on her wrist, gifts that McCoy had been trying to get back, the motive for the crime in this tumultuous relationship?
Did McCoy hire somebody and give him the security code to the home? Police said there was no forced injury and the home was targeted.
Did he only want to scare his ex-lover, whom he had been trying to evict, and things escalated?
Is McCoy cooperating in the investigation? Will he miss time away from camp? Was McCoy a victim of a setup?
What will the NFL, which has finally gotten tough with players involved in domestic violence, do if McCoy is charged and found guilty? McCoy has turned 30 and would this end his career, stuck at 10,029 yards, 29th on the league’s career rushing list?
What will the Bills — and we specifically mean owners Kim and Terry Pegula, GM Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott — do? What does this case do to the new Bills “culture’’ they keep talking about?
So many questions.
Fairly or unfairly, a daily dose of McCoy drama is about to come blasting like an end sweep at the Pegulas, Beane and McDermott. And since it involves their best player, trading away the problem a la Marcell Dareus, isn’t an option.
This is a national story with a plot worthy of Law and Order.
Any new twist will be the story of the day at St. John Fisher. It’s not going away anytime soon.
But then there’s this and something I’ll be sure to remind myself of all the time: McCoy hasn’t been charged.
Allegations he was involved were made by Cordon in her 911 call and investigators need more than “I think it has something to do with my ex-boyfriend’’ to go all Elliot Stabler on him.
It will take finding the assailant. It will take solid evidence that leads back to McCoy, who was out of town at the time.
At present, he said any implications are “totally baseless’’ and he’s hired a high-powered Atlanta attorney to guard his back and save his career.
Cordon’s attorney Tanya Mitchell Graham told ESPN’s Mike Rodak her client “suspects’’ McCoy is involved. But she now isn’t directly blaming him without more evidence.
That’s why when McDermott and Beane meet with the media for the first time in camp on Thursday, and they are asked about McCoy, predicting their response is as easy as predicting a 1,000-yard season for the Pro Bowl running back.
“We’re letting the investigation play out,’’ McBeane will say. “We respect the legal process. We’ll see where this goes.’’
That’s how it should be. Everyone else can play amateur detective and crime novel writer.
But the Bills, players’ union and the league can't afford to do that, and are right to take a wait-and-see posture.
The league does have a personal conduct code and even though records show police have come to McCoy’s home three times in the past year for incidents related to his then girlfriend, domestic violence was never charged.
Disciplining McCoy for setting Cordon's belongings in the driveway would be a bit harsh.
Of course all Bills fans are wishing Shady was a bit less shady.
In 2016, he was involved in a bar fight with off-duty police in Philadelphia. There was video of that dust-up, but in the end, the district attorney declined to prosecute.
Since then, McCoy has been one of the few positive lights for the Bills, his attitude following the trade from Philadelphia to Buffalo improving to the point that he now embraces the city and fans.
Everybody loves No. 25.
But this latest case is most unfortunate.
The Bills don’t deserve a black cloud over their heads as a new season begins. Losing McCoy would be a loss they likely won’t overcome.
But a woman was brutally beaten.
How the Bills running game looks isn’t really that important is it?
