Tony Hein, an Iraqi war veteran and alumni of the University of Mississippi, got into a scuffle with police on Sunday night while at the touristy Inner Harbor in Baltimore.  Hein was signed to the Ravens in June as a free agent.    The trouble started on Sunday when a security officer thought he witnessed Hein passing a handgun to one of his companions. The security officer alerted police, and in the end, we find out the gun was really a cell phone.  That should be the end of the story.

However, according to police reports, Hein became aggressive and assaulted a police officer, which lead to his arrest.  Tony Hein’s agent claims that the arrest is the result of racial profiling, and points out that Hein was a black man wearing sweats and a hoodie, and claims the officer was overly aggressive.  Will this scuffle damage this free agent’s chances with the Ravens?  Its hard to say.

“Tony will get his due process and have his opportunity to explain,” Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne said.

No team wants a professional Public Relations nightmare on their payroll.  But, the public does soon forget the mistakes made by superstars.  Just look at Michael Vick, back in a uniform as a newly signed Philadephia Eagle, after his dog fighting nightmare.

Is there anything a super star can’t do these days and be forgiven?  Hein, it appears, was clearly innocent of carrying the weapon, but did he push the officer?  Did he resist arrest? If you were a black man in Baltimore, who felt as though you were being mistreated because of racial profiling…if you’d given more than 3 years of service to the US military, and you were simply out with friends, having dinner…would you resist?

Hopefully the Baltimore Ravens will allow this rookie to prove his worth on the field, and not in the headlines.  In this case it would appear that Hein simply had a very bad evening.  Let’s see how the story develops.