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Ohio State football: Former Buckeye T.J. Downing arrested
by Doug Lesmerises Monday November 10, 2008, 5:36 PM
Marvin Fong/ The Plain DealerFormer Ohio State offensive lineman T.J. Downing
Former Ohio State offensive lineman T.J. Downing faces four felony counts after a traffic stop Sunday night when police said they found drugs and a gun in his car.
Sgt. Larry Balla of the Grandview Heights Police Department said that Downing was pulled over in that western suburb of Columbus for driving without a front license plate and with tinted windows. Balla said the officer who stopped Downing then smelled marijuana and after a search, found a marijuana pipe on the front seat and prescription drugs, marijuana, cocaine and a loaded Smith & Wesson .40 caliber pistol in Downing's trunk.
Balla said the charges include drug trafficking because some of the drugs appeared to be packaged for resale.
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Ex-OSU, GlenOak player Downing faces four felony charges
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
REPOSITORY STAFF REPORT
GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS Former GlenOak High School and Ohio State football player T.J. Downing faces four felony charges after an arrest in the Columbus area.
Downing, 24, was arrested Sunday at W. 5th Avenue and Cambridge Boulevard and charged with aggravated trafficking of drugs, two counts of drug possession and improper handling of firearms. He is scheduled for arraignment this morning at the Franklin County Courthouse and remained in jail.
According to Sgt. Larry Balla of the Grandview Heights Division of Police, Downing's car was stopped at 10:12 p.m. because it had dark, tinted windows and no front license plate.
The report states that officers smelled marijuana from the interior of the vehicle and a search uncovered drug paraphernalia as well as quantities of marijuana, cocaine, tablets of a Vicodin-type medication and a loaded firearm.
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Former OSU football player arrested on drug, gun charges
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 3:00 AM
By Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A former Ohio State football player is expected in court today after his arrest on drug-trafficking charges and a weapons violation in Grandview Heights. Timothy "T.J." Downing, 24, of Sunbury, a Buckeyes offensive lineman from 2003 to 2007, was arrested about 10 p.m. Sunday at W. Fifth Avenue and Cambridge Boulevard, Grandview Heights Police Sgt. Larry Balla said yesterday.
He said police stopped Downing's Chrysler 300 because it had no front license plate and the windows were tinted too dark. The officer smelled marijuana, which was probable cause to search the vehicle, Balla said.
After the search, detectives charged Downing with possession of cocaine and OxyContin, aggravated trafficking in OxyContin and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Police found a loaded 40-caliber pistol wrapped in a pair of jeans in the car, court records show.
"As a concealed-weapon permit carrier, he's allowed to have it in plain view or on his person, but not wrapped in clothing in his trunk," Balla said.
Downing is scheduled to be in Franklin County Municipal Court for his initial appearance today. He was being held in the county jail without bail last night.
Police said they found 53 OxyContin pills and less than 5 grams of cocaine in the car, both felony-level crimes.
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Buckskin86;988024; said:
Now, T.J. is a successful businessman in Columbus. So far, it?s been quite profitable for the former OSU lineman.
OH10;1322192; said:Marijuan, Oxycontin, Cocaine and to top it off, a loaded gun. Wow! How could he have been dumb enough to drive around in a car with that much [censored] in it?
All ESPN did was place a link to a very fact-based AP story.JimsSweaterVest;1322202; said:I won't link to them, but ESPN have already put this on their college football main page, and as you can imagine, the "Blame Tressel"/anti-OSU circlejerk has begun...
MaxBuck;1322330; said:All ESPN did was place a link to a very fact-based AP story.
Hard to see how any rational person could find fault with ESPN here. Downing created this problem, no one else is to blame -- especially not Jim Tressel.
MaxBuck;1322330; said:All ESPN did was place a link to a very fact-based AP story.
Hard to see how any rational person could find fault with ESPN here. Downing created this problem, no one else is to blame -- especially not Jim Tressel.
Ronnie Wilson's travails have certainly been well-documented. So have Teddy Dupay's.JohnnyCockfight;1322353; said:I agree to an extent, but why is this newsworthy on the most prominent college football website in the world? Downing wasn't a known player outside of Buckeye circles. Maybe hardcore fans of other Big Ten teams knew him, maybe.
It's one thing to link a story to a once-prominent college football player, if he didn't make a bigger name for himself in the pros (i.e. Eric Crouch), or if it in some way relates back to college football, but Downing wasn't even good enough to make the pros and this story certainly has nothing to do with college football. I don't think ESPN does this with every major program, and therein lies the problem.
MaxBuck;1322383; said:Ronnie Wilson's travails have certainly been well-documented. So have Teddy Dupay's.
Buckeye fans who seriously believe ESPN treats Ohio State differently from schools such as Florida, USC, UCLA, and Texas are delusional. Big programs mean big news; it's as simple as that. Oh, except that everyone likes to try to find feet of clay on the apparently virtuous; that is why Jim Tressel and Billy Graham will always get more media scrutiny than, say, Mike Leach (who is just plain weird) and Al Sharpton.
Downing news disappoints Tressel
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
BY TODD PORTER
[email protected]
COLUMBUS A year ago, T.J. Downing was trying to make the NFL.
On Sunday, Downing was arrested on four felony charges, including trafficking in drugs, two counts of drug possession and improper handling of a firearm.
That news disappointed Buckeye football Head Coach Jim Tressel.
"Those things hurt," Tressel said.
The coach has not spoken with Downing since his arrest. Walt Downing, the GlenOak High School graduate's father, was traveling on business but said he spoke with his son Tuesday by phone.
"He sounded real confident that his name would be cleared," Walt Downing said. "He said everything was under control, and it was a misunderstanding."
Downing was a media darling at Ohio State and a good quote for reporters covering the team. He was what writers refer to as a go-to guy for stories.
After Ohio State, Downing went undrafted and was signed by Arizona in 2007. He was released by the Cardinals and went to work near Columbus.
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