Devin Butler was born the year AFTER I graduated. Which makes him twenty-one. So he ended up at The ‘Backer last Friday. His season ended shortly thereafter.
He’s lucky to be alive. At some point during his physical altercation with South Bend police officers Luke Pickard and Aaron Knepper, Butler punched Knepper several times, wrestled him to the ground and “physically ripped” Knepper’s duty belt off his body. Knepper was subsequently able to deploy his Taser and subdue his assailant.
Knepper, or his partner, could have had grounds to use lethal force. On the use of force continuum, grappling with a police officer usually gets you Tased or hit with a baton. But it could get you shot, too. If Butler separated Officer Knepper from his gun, Pickard could have made a justifiable decision to shoot him. It might not have been the right decision, but it might not have been wrong, either.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to write too often about Notre Dame’s disciplinary process. Suffice it to say that a student who is charged with a felony can be summarily, but temporarily, expelled. A conviction can result in permanent dismissal. For Butler, the University’s investigation and adjudication process will run parallel with the District Attorney’s process. He could beat the charges and avoid jail, but the University could find his conduct, which involved alcohol and violence, so negatively impacted the community and the school that his continuing enrollment would impossible.
Butler was apparently immediately sorrowful and remorseful, but his conduct could be found to have been so egregious that he should be separated from Notre Dame. Because he did not immediately kick him off the team, I believe Kelly wants to give him a chance. But Kelly may not get that chance. Butler is facing multiple charges and if he sinks under du Lac, there’s nothing Kelly can do to save him.
I’d be surprised if Butler is not suspended for the season. I would not be surprised if he were expelled. If he is allowed to stay and to remain a part of the team, it would not be the only bullet Devin dodged.
Hating Hurricanes Since 1990.
Bayou Irish is a Jersey boy and Double Domer who fell under New Orleans' spell in 1995. He's been through Katrina and fourteen years in the Coast Guard, so we cut him some slack, mostly in the form of HLS-subsidized sazeracs. But, when he's not face down on the bar and communing with the ghosts of Faulkner and Capote at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, he's our man in SEC-land, doing his best to convince everyone around him that Graduation Success Rate is a better indicator of success than the number of MNC's won in the last five years.
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018
The violent behavior described qualifies for permanent dismissal.
Regarding the “violent behavior,” were any of us eyewitnesses? Perhaps we should let the details unfold before condemning the young man.
The affidavit is damning.
It is. But the actual facts may not correspond with the affidavit. The SBPD always goes for the max charges imaginable. And one of the officers involved has been suspended (and even sued) in the past for having instigated situations. I’m more in the wait and see mode. That old “you’re innocent until proven guilty” thing.
That doesn’t apply to du Lac.
True. But even the University should consider actual facts, not just allegations. I’m not saying that the allegations are false, just that they are not yet proven.
I agree. Well said Mike.
I don’t think that we are actually disagreeing. When you read BK’s statement, he is operating from the premise that we have “facts” as we know them. And, at least insofar as I am aware, we don’t have any other evidence to contradict those “facts” at this time. The only “facts” we have are the charges against Butler. Until those change, either via prosecutorial discretion or evidence to the contrary, du Lac is going to do what it’s going to do. They may opt to do nothing in the interim.
The article in the SB Tribune today quoting witnesses who were actually there tells quite a different story. I’m more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to Devin Butler than I am to the one officer with the checkered background.