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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Athletes of the Week
(FOR THE WEEK OF AUG. 28-SEPT. 2)
SOPHIE
LONG
Astoria
TREVOR
BYRD
Astoria
Submitted Photo
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
he freshman made her high school cross country debut a successful one
T
Sept. 2, in the “Ultimook Race Nike Invitational,” at Hydrangea Ranch in Til-
lamook. Out of 127 runners in the varsity 5,000-meter race, Long fi nished 13th
he 2017 boys soccer season opener was a memorable game for Astoria’s
T
Trevor Byrd. Facing the Corbett Cardinals, the senior forward scored three
goals — all in the fi rst half — in a 6-1 Fishermen victory at Volunteer Field.
in 23 minutes, 54 seconds — the best fi nish for the Lady Fishermen, who placed
third in the team standings. It was the fi rst time Long had run a 5,000-meter
race. Teammate McKenzie Burnett (pictured on the left) was 15th in 24:11.
Byrd’s hat trick was a big positive for Astoria, which must replace a handful of
scorers lost to graduation in 2016.
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Gaston spikers
sweep Knappa
The Daily Astorian
GASTON — In a late match
Tuesday, Gaston swept Knappa
in a Northwest League volleyball
opener, 25-12, 25-16, 25-12, in a
sweltering hot Gaston gymnasium.
The defending league cham-
pion Greyhounds are coming
off an undefeated league season
in 2016, and are the favorites to
repeat this year.
“The fi nal scores were not
refl ective of the Logger effort,”
said Knappa coach Jeff Kaul.
“Gaston is just a really good
team right now, with strong
serving, speed, and some very
good hitters. The Loggers played
hard, but it’s tough to get rolling
when you never know where the
ball is going to come from next.”
Paris Vanderburg had fi ve
assists and four kills, and Kaitlyn
Truax was 6-for-6 from the service
line for Knappa. Jaden Miethe fi n-
ished with eight digs, and Aiko
Miller added four digs and three
kills.
Maybin’s homer
in 9th lifts
Houston past
Seattle 5-3
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Cameron May-
bin hit a two-run homer in the
ninth inning to lift Houston
past the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on
Wednesday night, helping the
Astros complete a three-game
sweep to extend their winning
streak to seven.
It was the second consecutive
game-winning homer for May-
bin, claimed off waivers last week
from the Los Angeles Angels.
Mariners move
INF Shawn O’Malley was
outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
O’Malley hit .229 in 89 games
with Seattle in 2016, but spent
most of 2017 on the disabled
list. He hit .205 in 20 games at
Tacoma.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Volleyball — Astoria at Cascade, 6
p.m.; Clatskanie at Warrenton, 6 p.m.;
Delphian at Knappa, 5:30 p.m.
Girls Soccer — St. Helens at Astoria,
7:15 p.m.; Seaside at Corbett, 4:15 p.m.
Boys Soccer — Astoria at St. Helens,
7 p.m.; Corbett at Seaside, 6 p.m.
Seahawks’ Michael Bennett says
he feared death by Las Vegas police
By KEN RITTER
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Seattle Sea-
hawks defensive end Michael Bennett
accused Las Vegas police on Wednes-
day of racially motivated excessive
force, saying he was threatened at
gunpoint and handcuffed following
a report of gunshots at an after-hours
club at a casino-hotel.
Police said they’re investigating,
but that Bennett failed to stop for offi -
cers searching a crowded casino for
what they believed to be an active
shooter just hours after the Aug. 26
boxing match between Floyd May-
weather Jr. and Conor McGregor.
“I believe this case will become
completely clear as all the available
video is reviewed for evidentiary pur-
poses,” Clark County Undersher-
iff Kevin McMahill told reporters.
“We’ll see very, very clearly exactly
what happened on this incident.”
Bennett said on a Twitter message
titled “Dear World,” that police “sin-
gled me out and pointed their guns at
me for doing nothing more than sim-
ply being a black man in the wrong
place at the wrong time.”
McMahill aired a lengthy video
clip taken from a police sergeant’s
body camera during a search of the
Cromwell casino after a report of
gunfi re at the Drai’s nightclub. But he
said at least one offi cer who encoun-
tered Bennett didn’t have his body
camera on at the time.
Bennett isn’t seen until the very
end of the clip — being handcuffed
as he lies prone in a traffi c lane on Las
Vegas Boulevard.
McMahill said that with an inter-
nal affairs investigation just begin-
ning, he saw “no evidence that race
played any role in this incident.”
Police and casino offi cials later
attributed the report of gunfi re to the
sharp sound of velvet rope stands
being knocked to a tile fl oor.
Bennett, during a brief appearance
Wednesday at the Seahawks’ prac-
tice facility in Renton, Washington,
described the incident as “traumatic”
but declined to go into specifi cs about
it.
“It’s a traumatic experience for
me, my family and it sucks that the
country that we live in now some-
times you get profi led for the color
of your skin,” Bennett said. “Do I
think every police offi cer is bad? No,
I don’t believe that. Do I believe there
are some people out there that judge
people by the color of their skin? I do
believe that.”
“I’m just trying to focus on the
game, focus on the task at hand and
let everything take care of itself,”
Bennett said. “But like I said this is a
tragic situation for me, I hate to be up
here at this moment. There is a lot of
people who experienced what I expe-
rienced at that point, at that moment
Seahawks
teammates
throw support
behind Bennett
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
AP Photo/Rick Scuteri
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett.
UP NEXT: SEAHAWKS
• Seattle Seahawks (0-0)
at Green Bay Packers (0-0)
• Sunday, 1:25 p.m. TV: FOX
and they’re not here to tell their story.”
Bennett, a 6-foot-4 defensive end
who has been a leader of the national
anthem protests started by former
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick,
said he was among several hundred
people running away.
In his Twitter message, Bennett
said he was handcuffed face-down on
the ground after an offi cer held a gun
to his head saying he would blow his
head off if he moved.
“All I could think of was ‘I’m
going to die for no other reason than I
am black and my skin color is some-
how a threat,’” he wrote. He said he
thought of his wife and children.
Bennett said he was taken to the
back of a police car “until they appar-
ently realized I was not a thug, com-
mon criminal or ordinary black man
but Michael Bennett a famous pro-
fessional football player.” He was
released without charges.
Las Vegas police Offi cer Jacinto
Rivera said police were checking
for casino and police body camera
video and written reports. He said the
department couldn’t immediately ver-
ify Bennett’s account or identify the
offi cers involved.
A video posted by celebrity news
site TMZ shows a view from a bal-
cony as a police offi cer kneels on the
back of a man who looks like Ben-
nett. Protests are heard, including, “I
wasn’t doing nothing,” and, “I was
here with my friends. They told us to
get out and everybody ran.”
Bennett’s attorney, John Burris in
Oakland, California, confi rmed the
words were Bennett’s. The attorney
said he believed the 30-second video
clip showed some of how his client
was treated.
“We think there was an unlaw-
ful detention and the use of exces-
sive force, with a gun put to his
head,” Burris told The Associated
Press. “He was just in the crowd. He
doesn’t drink or do drugs. He wasn’t
in a fi ght. He wasn’t resisting. He did
nothing more or less than anyone in
the crowd.”
Burris said Bennett waited to
make public his account of the inci-
dent until after Burris contacted Las
Vegas police last week by letter and
email, seeking police records of Ben-
nett’s detention.
McMahill said he had no knowl-
edge of any letter or email last week
from Bennett or Burris.
Bennett’s brother, Martellus Ben-
nett, who plays for the Green Bay
Packers, posted an Instagram account
of a telephone call he said he got from
Michael Bennett. He said he heard
fear in his brother’s voice.
“The emotion and the thought of
almost losing you because of the way
you look left me in one of the saddest
places ever,” Martellus Bennett said.
RENTON, Wash. — Cliff
Avril said he’d never seen team-
mate and friend Michael Bennett
as shaken as he was in the early
hours of Aug. 27 in Las Vegas.
“When I actually walked up
and he opened the door I was
like ‘Whoa, they really did get
after you a little bit. They really
did rough you up a little bit,’”
Avril said Wednesday. “Then just
talked to him for a couple of hours
trying to calm him down more so
than anything.”
Bennett received signifi cant
support from his Seattle Sea-
hawks teammates on Wednesday,
hours after his statement alleging
racially motivated excessive force
by the Las Vegas police.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll read
a statement supporting Bennett
and said he learned about the inci-
dent the morning after.
“He’s been anxious to take this
next step. He’s been holding on
to this for a while,” Carroll said.
“I think this will help him at this
point to make sure it’s out there
and he’s made his statement. It’s
been a topic for us. You can tell
it’s hanging with him.”
Avril and Bennett had gone to
Las Vegas for the fi ght between
Conor McGregor and Floyd May-
weather during a break from
training camp. They separated
following the fi ght and it was
about an hour after Bennett was
detained that Avril heard from his
teammate.
“That was the biggest thing
with him. I wanted him to call his
family ... where his mind was and
what he could have done, I didn’t
want him to make the wrong
move,” Avril said. “That was my
advice to him. Just let’s think this
thing through, talk to your wife
and come up with a game plan on
how you want to approach this.”
Bennett spoke with some
teammates regarding what hap-
pened, but others did not know
until his Bennett released his
statement on Twitter on Wednes-
day morning.
Center Justin Britt was one of
those. Britt has supported Bennett,
who has sat during the national
anthem during the preseason.
During each of the fi nal three pre-
season games, Britt stood next to
Bennett with his hand on Ben-
nett’s shoulder for the anthem.
“Money doesn’t change the
fact that it still happens,” Britt
said. “The fact that Mike believes
in equality for all and justice and
liberty, it’s just another statement
of what is going on in the world.”