Updated: 8:40 p.m.
 Henry |
"It's nothing. It was a fine. He thought it was taken care of," Marvin Frazier said Tuesday afternoon. "To me, it seems like there is a witch hunt for Chris Henry. He's been doing everything that he's been asked to do.
"If he's done something that should have put him in jail, I would think he'd be in jail right now."
Henry, who has been arrested four times, was cited for three traffic violations while driving on Vine Street in Cincinnati last Wednesday afternoon: driving with a suspended license and without a seat belt, and failing to signal, and paid $100.
But The Cincinnati Enquirer quoted Chief prosecutor Ken Easterling of the Kenton County Attorney's Office saying Tuesday that a conviction on those charges would be enough to revoke Henry's Kenton County probation and send him back to jail to serve the rest of his 90-day sentence.
The newspaper reported that Easterling said if Henry is convicted of any crime in Hamilton County, the Kenton County Attorney's Office would seek to revoke his probation in Kentucky.
The timing has turned the violations into a furor. The NFL owners are meeting this week to give NFL commissioner Roger Goodell the go-ahead for a harsher player conduct policy, and Henry is set to meet with Goodell next week.
The Bengals released this statement:
"While the incident involved a minor traffic matter, the Club is frustrated that the issue arose at all. The Club will await commenting on this specific matter until it is ruled on by the court, and Chris's overall future with our team can be determined only after this and other pending matters are resolved by the NFL."
SPIKES RECHARGED: Yes, linebacker Takeo Spikes was interested in returning to the Bengals via a trade and instructed agent Todd France to contact the club. Now that the Bills have dealt him to Philadelphia, Spikes said Tuesday he was intrigued by the possibility of stabilizing a young backer corps on a playoff contender.
And that is Spikes's only desire now. He wants to go to a team that is going to win. At age 30 he's played 126 games without appearing in the playoffs, which leads all active players.
"I just want to go somewhere where I'm wanted and we have the talent to win," Spikes said. "If we're not winning, I'm not happy. And then you get different coaches and they want to bring in their own guys. I feel real blessed to go to a team that has been to the playoffs so often."
Spikes, with a salary cap hit of $4 million-plus this season, was told the Bengals couldn't fit him under the cap. Despite making it clear he didn't want to stay before signing with Buffalo in 2003, Spikes said he didn't sense hard feelings this time around.
"It wasn't personal. I didn't make it personal. Go back and look at the quotes," Spikes said. "I just felt like I had served my time and it was time to move on."
INSTANT REPLAY HERE TO STAY: Instant replay was voted in permanently Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings in Arizona by a 30-2 margin. The two dissenting votes were cast by Cincinnati and Arizona.
