Thread: Dwight Gooden turns himself in

I can remember watching him with awe when he first came up....he was awesome. Such a waste of talent.



By MIKE LUPICA and MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS

After more than three days on the lam, Dwight Gooden turned himself into Tampa police at 4:40 p.m. today, according to Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. He was charged with fleeing and eluding a police officer, a felony, driving under the influence and resisting an officer without violence.
Gooden has been missing since early Monday, when police officer pulled over his 2004 BMW near downtown Tampa. He refused to get out of the car for a sobriety test, and then drove away suddenly, with the officer still holding his drivers license.

“We're just relieved he turned himself in,” McElroy said. “It's the first step in getting the help he needs.”

Gooden, 40, is being held on $3,000 bail at the Hillsborough County jail and is expected to be released later this evening.

Gooden's attorney Peter Hobson had contacted Tampa police, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the Hillsborough County state attorney’s office to negotiate his surrender. Rather than turn himself in at the central booking facility at Hillsborough County’s Orient Road jail - where a small army of reporters and photographers was waiting - Gooden turned himself in at Faulkenburg Road jail to avoid the media.

McElroy said Gooden was scheduled to appear in court tomorrow morning for a hearing to revoke his bond on the March domestic violence charge. He was accused of hitting his girlfriend during an argument in March, but that case has not yet gone to trial.

Police talked to relatives and acquaintances of Gooden over the last three days in their effort to find and arrest the former Met and Yankee pitcher, who worked for the Yankees until this spring.

Authorities say Gooden was visibly intoxicated when he was pulled over for driving erratically near downtown Tampa early Monday. He twice refused to get out of the car for a field sobriety test, then drove away suddenly.

Officers visited his two known residences in Tampa, made contact with family members, former drug counselors and every attorney who has represented him, and talked to the Yankees, McElroy said.

Everyone was "extremely cooperative," she said. "It's a sad situation for someone who obviously has a serious problem and is adding to his own problems by his actions right now."

Originally published on August 25, 2005

It is sad, he could have been much better.