Avoiding steep charges: Alvin Kamara’s surprising outcome and lingering NFL suspense

Despite some people suggesting that the New Orleans Saints star running back Alvin Kamara would face steep charges, he gets away with minimal punishments. Kamara was involved in a lesser misdemeanour charge back in February of 2022 in Las Vegas. The incident began when a man, Darnell Greene, allegedly followed and antagonized Kamara, and his group into an elevator. Kamara’s group didn’t let him get in the elevator, and eventually, they jumped Greene and began beating him up. Kamara was also involved in that beatdown, throwing multiple kicks from one specific camera angle that got shown in court. 

The antagonizing part wasn’t nearly as confirmed by the information provided. The police report has Greene stating he was just waiting for the elevator when Kamara stopped him from getting on. Greene pushed Kamara away to get onto the elevator and claimed he was punched and kicked until he lost consciousness. 

Instead of the jail time that many thought might happen, Kamara got hit with 30 hours of community service and a $105,000 fine that must be paid to Greene as restitution. This case had been consistently delayed; this news comes as Alvin pleaded no contest to the charges. The felony label was also dropped, which is even better news for him. However, he’s not out of the woods just yet. Kamara could still face discipline from the NFL, as they’ve said they are monitoring the situation. Unfortunately, there’s likely no indication of how many games a possible suspension might be. The NFL is unbelievably inconsistent when it comes to punishing their players. 

Tom Brady had an entire scandal and received four games, Jameson Williams gambled on a different sport one time and receives six games, Calvin Ridley placed a few bets and received a yearlong suspension, Deshaun Watson had 23 sexual assault charges and only got 12 games, and Josh Gordon was suspended for over games due to multiple infractions involving marijuana. Kamara might have avoided many repercussions, though the NFL could still want to let the rest of the league know that this behaviour won’t be tolerated. My current prediction is that he gets bumped out for two games to start the 2023 NFL season. Although, it isn’t out of the possibility that he receives four or even six games. 

Wildly enough, Greene also attempted to send a lawsuit towards Kamara in Louisiana. That’s not the crazy part. The crazy part is that he sought $10 million in damages over an orbital fracture in his right eye. $10 million seems a little excessive for the injury and type of charge that we are talking about here, but then again, he certainly knew that Kamara was a very popular professional football player. I’m sure that detail significantly made him and his lawyer bump the asking price. Greene’s lawyer has since mentioned that the civil case was settled confidentially as well. Either way, though, this Kamara story seems out of the way for now. After spending over a year thinking about where this trial might go, it’s finally concluded.