Pittsburgh Steelers Rookie DT Alameda Ta'amu Faces 15 Charges

By Curt Popejoy
Alameda Ta'amu
Joe Nicholson-US Presswire

I was young once believe it or not, so don’t read this and think that the old guy from Up is writing it. I understand that when you are a young guy, you feel like you are pretty indestructible, and you can do whatever you want. And Pittsburgh Steelers rookie DT Alameda Ta’amu clearly felt this way on late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

According to reports, Ta’amu faces as many as 15 charges after deciding to go all Jersey Shore behind the wheel in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood. Ta’amu put on a full on car chase after being pulled over for erratic driving, blowing a .196 which means a DUI, and then because he couldn’t stop there, chose to make a run for it in his 2006 Navigator, hitting four parked cars that couldn’t stop him, nearly missing several pedestrians and police offices(who had their guns drawn, just an FYI), and finally being “stopped” when he crashed his car into a fifth parked car, incapacitating his vehicle.

It ends there right? Hardly. Before I tell you this, keep in mind that Ta’amu is a full 6-foot-3 and 350 pounds. To finalize his wild night, which has included getting a DUI, fleeing the stop, hitting five vehicles, and endangering several people was to strip off his shirt and make a run for it. This would be the big fat icing on his cake of regret.

According to police reports, Ta’amu faces up to 15 charges, including some felonies, and has his preliminary hearing on October 23rd. From a football perspective this gives the Steelers front office more than enough time to cut him, and remove themselves from this ugly situation.

My take-What an idiot. I am not sure if he thought he was going to get some sort of prize for breaking the most laws in a single night, or if it was some kind of scavenger hunt collecting felony charges and paint off other people’s cars, but this promising young rookie is going to be done with the Steelers. Ta’amu was never able to get going this season, having been inactive for every game, but the size and potential were there, if he could have just kept his head screwed on straight and done the right thing. But instead one wild night has cost his so much. I’m not writing him off as an NFL player, but I’ll be shocked if he is still a Steeler after an incident like this.

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