Jaguars' Collier shot, has life-threatening injuries

[vorlos]

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier was shot while waiting for some women outside an apartment early Tuesday and sustained life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Collier, 26, and former Jaguars defensive end Kenneth Pettway were waiting in a car when a gunman fired into the vehicle, said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Ken Jefferson. Collier was shot several times, but it wasn't clear where he was hit.

Collier was in critical condition at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, a hospital official said. The motive behind the attack was unclear, and the sheriff's office was investigating. Pettway, who was released in final cuts Saturday, was not injured in the attack.

The shooting happened around 2:45 a.m. in a middle- to upper middle-class neighborhood just west of downtown Jacksonville and blocks from the St. Johns River.

Collier is the third NFL player to be shot in the past 18 months. Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor was fatally shot during what police said was a botched burglary attempt at his Miami-area home in November. Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed when his rented limousine was sprayed with bullets minutes after leaving a New Year's party at a downtown Denver club in 2007.

Entering his third year after making the team as an undrafted rookie free agent, Collier competed for the starting job at left tackle but was beaten out by Khalif Barnes in the preseason.

Still, the Jaguars believe Collier could be a future starter. They even signed him to a contract extension earlier this year -- despite his arrest last season.

The 6-foot-7, 345-pound linemen was arrested Nov. 3 after officers found him asleep behind the wheel of his sports utility vehicle at a McDonald's drive-thru window.

Collier failed field sobriety tests and had a blood-alcohol level of .096, according to police. In Florida, it is illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher.

Collier was suspended two games and fined by coach Jack Del Rio.

Collier's attorney disputed the police report and recommended that his client go to trial, but Collier didn't want the team to have to deal with the negative attention that it would generate. So he pleaded no contest and accepted six months of probation.

He publicly vowed to stay out of trouble, not wanting to blow his chance of becoming an every-down starter in the NFL -- something he felt like he nearly did in high school.

Coming out of high school in Shreveport, La., Collier didn't have the grades or test scores to attend most colleges, so he stayed home with his mother and got a job in the produce department at Wal-Mart.

Instead of blocking defenders and creating running and passing lanes, he was arranging heads of lettuce, stacking ears of corn and washing fruit.

He worked there for two years before deciding to give football another chance. He enrolled at Tyler Junior College in Texas, about 90 miles west of Shreveport, and showed up weighing 390 pounds and having not lifted a weight since high school.

Collier quickly got his grades -- and body -- in order and worked his way into the starting lineup. He transferred to Valdosta State in 2004 and helped the Blazers win the Division II national championship that season. He earned All-America honors as a senior in 2005.

But he failed to impress many NFL scouts.

The Jaguars were the only team to bring Collier in for a workout before the draft, so signing with Jacksonville as an undrafted rookie was an easy decision. His only other choice, he thought, was to go back to the produce section.

"It took me to lose everything to recognize how much I had," Collier said during his rookie season. "It was a blessing, really. I found out how it would be if I didn't work hard and apply myself."

[Rasp]

Jags Collier is paralyzed, had left leg amputated

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier, shot earlier this month, is paralyzed below the waist and had his left leg amputated.

Dr. Andy Kerwin, a surgeon for the University of Florida at Shands Jacksonville hospital, said Collier, who had 14 bullet wounds, is now in good condition after being previously listed in critical condition.

Kerwin said Collier had bullet wounds to the back, left groin, left legs and right buttock. In addition, a bullet severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down. The amputation was the result of damage to his left leg and groin, which had blood clots.

The 26-year-old Collier had five bullets removed from his urinary bladder and suffered bouts of pneumonia, infections and renal failure.

The player will undergo physical therapy to learn to get from his bed to a wheelchair. He will never walk again, the doctor said.

Collier was on a ventilator for about three weeks and has no memory of the shooting, Kerwin said.

[Rasp]

Bar Fight Prompted Shooting Of Jaguars' Player

Tyrone Arrested, Charged With Shooting Richard Collier

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Richard Collier's agent said Monday his client is relieved police have arrested a man they suspect opened fire on the Jaguars' player in September. He said Collier is pleased the case is moving forward and that he wants closure.

Tyrone Hartsfiled was arrested on Saturday. The 32-year-old is accused of shooting Collier 14 times, leaving the former tackle paralyzed.

Investigators said Hartsfield and Collier first got into a fight at an Arlington nightclub in April, and they said the Sept. 2 shooting was an act of revenge.

According to a police report filed in April, Hartsfield told officers some guy "pinned him against the wall squeezing his chest," before throwing punches, striking him multiple times in the face and head.

Hartsfield said he heard people at the club call out to the unknown man by the name of Collier and Hartsfield's friends told him the name of the man who hit was Richard Collier, the police report states.

"I know Richard doesn't know him as a friend. Whether Richard is familiar with him I can't comment," said Collier's agent Jeff Jankovich.

In the police report, Hartsfield told officers his attacker was 6 feet 3 inches tall and 225 pounds, but Jankovich said his client is close to 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs up to 365 pounds.

That inconsistency has some people questioning if Hartsfield went after the wrong man.

"I hate to speculate because I just don't know this man or what his motives were, but it's possible," Jankovich said.

A friend of Collier's who was with him the night of the shooting said before the shots were fired Collier had mentioned he had seen some guy who he had gotten into a fight with, but she said she never guessed it would lead to a shooting.

"For the longest time, I thought people were blaming me for it and now people know it was not me," said the woman who asked that her name not be used. "It's so unbelievable. I can't imagine that someone would get that mad. I can't imagine that someone could have that much rage."

She said the night had been perfect until shots rang out as Collier and Kenneth Pettway were waiting outside a Riverside apartment for her and another friend.

"I could never have imagined that from happening. It was a perfect night. We had fun and it just ended badly," she said.

Collier was in critical condition for days and his surgeon at Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center said most people would not have survived the extent of the injuries. Doctors said one of the bullets hit his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, and a blood clot caused him to lose a leg.

"He's doing OK under the circumstances," Jankovich said. "His spirits are relatively positive. He's coming to grips with what happened to him."

Hartsfield is being held in the Duval County Jail without bond.

[Nigtarded]

Man On Trial In Jaguars Player Shooting

Defendant Claims Others Had Motive To Shoot Richard Collier
UPDATED: 12:37 pm EDT October 26, 2009

Tyrone Hartsfield in court on Monday as jury selection begins.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A jury is being selected to hear the attempted murder case against Tyrone Hartsfield, the man accused of shooting Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Richard Collier 14 times last year.

Collier was shot 14 times as he sat inside his luxury SUV outside a Riverside apartment complex.

Collier was left paralyzed from the waist down and his lower left leg was amputated.

The 33-year-old ex-convict accused Collier of beating him up at a nightclub five months before the September 2008 shooting. Police said the shooting was in retaliation for the nightclub fight, which Collier has denied.

Hartsfield is charged with one count of attempted murder.

In addition to prospective jurors, family and friends of Hartsfield were present to show support.

Hartsfield's attorney is expected to tell jurors that others also had a motive to pull the trigger and that her client is innocent.

Defense attorney Ann Finnell said several people had a motive to shoot Collier, but she has declined to elaborate.

Channel 4's Vickie Pierre reported that a jury is expected to be seated Monday and opening arguments and testimony should begin on Tuesday.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/21401051/detail.html#

[Nigtarded]

Tyrone Hartsfield found guilty of shooting Jaguar Richard Collier

Jury convicted Hartsfield of attempted first-degree murder
By Paul Pinkham Story updated at 7:17 PM on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009

Hartsfield is pictured shortly after the jury delivered its verdict.
Image courtesy of First Coast News

A jury convicted Tyrone Romero Hartsfield of attempted first-degree murder Thursday evening in the shooting of former Jacksonville Jaguar Richard Collier.

Hartsfield shook his head as the verdict was read, and his sister, sobbing, had to be led out of the courtroom.

The defendant was also found guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

One day earlier, Hartsfield had emphatically and tearfully told jurors he is innocent.

“I ain’t shot nobody. That ain’t me,” he said. “… Y’all got an innocent man up here on the stand.”

But prosecutors accused Hartsfield of feigning his tears for sympathy and having “an explanation for everything.”

“You want to do any more crying before we get started?” Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda asked before beginning his cross-examination.

Collier, 28, was shot six times in the back last year outside a Riverside Avenue apartment after leaving a San Marco nightclub with a woman he dated, her sister and a former teammate.

Stephfan Wilson testified earlier he was with Hartsfield that night and that they followed Collier from San Marco. He told jurors that Hartsfield shot Collier in retaliation for a bar fight four months earlier.

Wilson also wore a wire for police to implicate Hartsfield. That five-hour recording was played for jurors Monday and includes Hartsfield telling Wilson “we got to get our story right” and “only thing they got on me is you.”

But Hartsfield, 33, said he was talking on much of the tape about helping Wilson avoid returning to prison for violating his probation in an Atlanta bank robbery by being in the club. He said Wilson asked for his help and that’s the story he thought they were planning to tell police.

Hartsfield said he became increasingly drunk during the conversation but didn’t grow suspicious about it until near the end. He said he couldn’t figure out what being at the club had to do with Collier’s shooting.

Hartsfield called Wilson a liar who had concocted a story about Hartsfield to stay out of prison.

“This liar that you’ve got on your team just came in and destroyed my life,” Hartsfield told de la Rionda. “They got a lot of other tips. They picked me because they’ve got this dude coming in here willing to lie.”

Hartsfield said he was angry after Collier knocked him out at an Arlington nightclub in April 2008. But he said he decided to let the authorities handle it after filing a report with police later that morning. If they had, he said, he would have been able to sue Collier.

“Why would I want to do something to somebody that I filed a police report on?” Hartsfield said. “I went to the police for help.”

Hartsfield said he never saw Collier again, including the night of the shooting. On that night, he said he and his girlfriend, Nikia Presley, drove to San Marco after dropping off Hartsfield’s daughter on the Westside.

That would explain why cell phone records show him calling Wilson from that part of town, Hartsfield said. Wilson testified they rode together after Hartsfield picked him up near the Potter’s House church, but Hartsfield said he doesn’t know how Wilson arrived at or left the club.

Calls he made to his cousins and others during the night were to tell them how good the show was at the club, not to request a gun after spotting Collier, as Wilson testified. After the show, he and Pressley went straight home to Pickettville, traveling over the Fuller Warren Bridge, accounting for a cell call placing him in the Riverside area around the time Collier was shot.

“I want to tell him so bad, 'Man, I didn’t do this to you.’ I wanted to tell him when he came in here,” Hartsfield told jurors. “I can’t do a life sentence for something I didn’t do.”

But de la Rionda accused Hartsfield of fabricating a story to match the evidence and making up his testimony as he went along. The prosecutor read excerpts from calls Hartsfield made to Pressley from the Duval County jail on which Hartsfield tells her he had a dream and describes what each wore to the club and the route they took home.

“It was important for you and her to get your stories straight. Was that a code?” de la Rionda asked.

Hartsfield responded that de la Rionda was taking out of context snippets from a year’s worth of daily conversations.

“Mr. Collier got messed up, and everyone wants to help him out,” Hartsfield said. “Y’all have convinced the whole world that I had something to do with it, which I didn’t. … The person that did this crime, you need to find him because it wasn’t me.”

Pressley backed up Hartsfield’s story during testimony later in the day. She said she could understand how some of Hartsfield’s statements on the jail calls could be interpreted as coaching, but she assured jurors they weren’t.

She said Hartsfield has no one to talk to in jail and often rambles about the case to the point where she has to tell him to talk about something else. She also testified she didn’t tell anyone about being with Hartsfield the night of the shooting until about six weeks after his arrest.

She gave birth to Hartsfield’s daughter seven months ago.

Pressley, a medical assistant at Shands Jacksonville hospital, told jurors police accused her of illegally accessing Collier’s medical records but she was cleared and kept her job. Other hospital employees were fired for that offense.

http://jacksonville.com/news/2009-11...ichard_collier

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Collier's Shooter Sentenced To Life

Judge Imposes Maximum Sentence On Tyrone Hartsfield
POSTED: Thursday, December 17, 2009
UPDATED: 6:22 pm EST December 17, 2009

Tyrone Hartsfield continued to maintain his innocence before he was sentenced to life in prison in the shooting of former Jaguars player Richard Collier.


Richard Collier weeps as he tells Judge Mallory Cooper how the shooting ruined his career and almost&#160took his life.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Tyrone Hartsfield, the man convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of Jaguars player Richard Collier, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Richard Collier was shot as many as 14 times in September 2008 while sitting in an SUV waiting outside a Riverside apartment.

After a two-week trial, Tyrone Hartsfield was convicted last month of attempted murder in the ambush shooting.

Prosecutors called the shooting an act of retaliation for a fight at a nightclub months earlier in which Collier admitted hitting Hartsfield at a nightclub.

He survived the shooting, but was left paralyzed from the waist down and had a leg amputated.

During a statement at the hearing, Collier cried as he described how Hartsfield not only robbed him of his career as an NFL player, but he almost took his life when he fired 14 shots at him. Collier said four bullets remain in his body.

"What I've had to go through I would not wish on my worst enemy," Collier said.

Hartsfield also gave testimony during the sentencing hearing and continued to maintain his innocence.

"I would never do something like that to a person. Never," Hartsfield said.

His mother and fiancée also testified, asking Judge Mallory Cooper for leniency for Hartsfield.

But prosecutors painted a picture of a career criminal who had been offered plenty of chances to turn his life around.

The minimum sentence for that charge is 25 years in prison, but since Hartsfield was classified a habitual offender, the judge sentenced him to the maximum possible: life without possibility of parole.

"There is not a sentence I could give that would address what happened to Mr. Collier," Cooper said. "It was a cowardly act; it was a brutal act."

Hartsfield's attorneys said they will appeal.

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