Ryan Malone ‘shocked’ cocaine was found on him
By Cory Buck
Ryan Malone was recently arrested for possession of cocaine and DUI. While the latter is impossible to deny (his BAC was a .112 in Florida, where .08 is the legal limit) it seems that the former took Malone for a loop as it happened and he still doesn’t know where it came from.
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Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes that when officer Andrew Visser pulled a small bag of cocaine out of the back pocket of Ryan Malone’s jeans, the former Lightning forward was quoted as saying, “Oh my God.” The report continued as such:
"Malone, 34, waived his Miranda rights and told Visser he didn’t know where the 1.3 grams of cocaine came from, according to discovery documents the Tampa Bay Times received Tuesday through a public records request.Malone told Visser he didn’t believe the officer planted the drugs on him, according to the documents, but he was “baffled” because he was wearing the same jeans for three days. “I asked where it came from,” Visser wrote in his report. “And he said he was just shocked.”"
Well that’s one way to build a defense. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to convince Visser, who booked Malone for both charges. At best, it seems that Malone went on some kind of three day bender and maybe forgot some party supplies deep in his pocket. That still counts as possession though and Malone will have his day in court to hopefully add to his ‘had no idea it was there’ defense.
Ryan Malone remains a free agent after having been bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning this past summer. While his agent believes Malone will find work with another team soon, it’s hard to believe anyone will take a chance on the big forward until this legal mess is cleared.