At 16, Brian Banks was one of the best high school linebackers in America. USC had offered him a full scholarship. Pete Carroll personally called him.
One afternoon at school he made out with a classmate. Consensual. By the end of the day he was in jail, charged with kidnapping and rape.
She said he dragged her into a stairwell. It never happened.
The DNA came back negative. His mother sold her house and her car to pay for a lawyer.
He couldn’t make bail. He spent a year behind bars waiting for trial.
His lawyer told him: plead no contest, or risk 41 years in prison. He was 17. He took the deal.
He did 5 years in prison. Then 5 more on parole. Registered sex offender. GPS monitor on his ankle. Couldn’t go near schools or parks. No one would hire him.
Meanwhile, the girl and her mother sued the school district for not keeping her safe. They won $1.5 million.
In 2011, a Facebook friend request popped up on his screen.
It was her.
She wanted to “let bygones be bygones.”
Brian went to a private investigator. They hid cameras in the office and invited her to talk. She came by bus.
On tape, she admitted it. He never raped her. He never kidnapped her.
Then she said she still wouldn’t tell prosecutors the truth. Because she’d have to give back the money.
In May 2012, a judge cleared his name. The hearing took less than a minute.
10 years of his life. Gone in one lie. Erased in 60 seconds.
A few days later his phone rang. “I’m looking for a linebacker. You know where I can find one?”
It was Pete Carroll. The same coach who recruited him 10 years earlier.
He finally signed with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. At 27. The dream he had at 16.
She was ordered to pay $2.6 million back.
What should happen to someone who steals 10 years of your life with one lie?
T.O. really signed a waiver releasing Philly from all liability so he could play in the Super Bowl with a broken leg 😳
Terrell & T.O. is now streaming on Prime Video.
This generation will never understand how prime Wayne was moving…
He was so busy he filmed the “A Milli” video on the way to shoot another one (Got Money) the same day…
And that was just a normal day in 2008.
One of the greatest primes BTW
Sasha Vujacic says he and Kobe Bryant spoke English on defense, then switched to Italian on offense so Tony Allen couldn’t understand them
Sasha: That’s why when we played them, like he was the one actually, when Kobe and I would speak on the basketball court, he would come and listen, and we started speaking Italian. They’re like, ‘What? What is he talking about?’”
Tony Allen: “I knew it. I knew it. I like, bro, they just said something in English on the defensive end. They get on the offensive end, they speaking a whole another language.”
Z-Bo: “You knew it, huh?”
Tony Allen: “I promise you I knew it. Yeah, cuz I’ll be overplaying, and then y’all saying something to make when you go back door or something.”
Sasha: “That’s why you were laughing.”
Tony Allen: “I knew it. I appreciate you for clarifying that.”