He tried to hide it.
Emmanuel Acho didn’t want you to know which NFL team he was referring when he said recently an employee helped him order a team-friendly police officer, on demand, to get out of trouble.
“I’m playing for a team, I can’t say what team,” Acho said on his Speakeasy Podcast earlier this week. “I played for three so, at least you all can’t know exactly which one.”
Acho had good reason to mask the team he talked about in the story he was about to tell, because the implications of it are massive. Acho said that he rear-ended another driver on his way to practice and he contacted “one of our security people” for the team he played for and he said, “Acho, when the cop shows up, send the cop away. I’m going to send you another cop. And that other cop is going to say it wasn’t your fault. It was their fault.”
https://x.com/Tonysmarkettips/status/2085549468985024884
Acho isn’t the only former NFL player with a story like this. Nine-year NFL star Marcellus Wiley said on his podcast earlier this week:
“In the NFL, a lot of former police officers are employed. FBI. Former FBI are employed,” Wiley said. “…We also have a security director. Let me just call him like he is. He’s a fixer. If he can fix it, he will fix it. If he can’t it, if it’s out of his hands, it’s too big a story or it got out of his jurisdiction, he can’t fix it…. Every team has one.”
Legal Implications
If Acho’s story is true, and someone from an NFL team sent a corrupt cop to blame an accident on an innocent victim, it’s a devastating look for the NFL. Especially while people are currently looking at the July 14 Kyle Shanahan accident.
As laid outin this article, Shanahan’s VP of security Jeremy Jones has 16 years of law enforcement experience and stonewalled reporters’ attempts at seeing an accident report.
The legal penalties for a situation described by Acho could range from civil penalties launched by the victim all the way to RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968) concerns if it’s considered a pattern of racketeering. I’m no legal scholar, but considering how much money the NFL makes and its need for players to be on the field and out of trouble in the media, RICO implications aren’t a stretch.
It’s also possible that the cop who helped Acho violated laws around falsifying records, bribery and public corruption, official misconduct, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and evidence tampering.
There also may be insurance fraud implications for the officer involved. Make no mistake, this is a very big deal.
I can’t imagine that the cop or the NFL employee involved are too happy with Acho telling this story to his YouTube Channel with 2.61 million subscribers.
Which Team Was It?
Despite Acho’s attempted smokescreen, it’s not that hard to narrow down which city and which year this shocking incident took place.
Acho only played in the NFL from 2012-2015. The former University of Texas star played for Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the New York Giants. Remember that in Acho’s story, he said he was exiting an off ramp and that off ramp was close enough to the facility that his teammates would see him getting pulled over.
Below you can see the locations of the practice facilities for these three teams.
Cleveland Browns Practice Facility:
Philadelphia Eagles Practice Facility:
New York Giants Practice Facility:
Based on Google imagery and the location of off ramps with yield signs close to the facility, in my opinion, the Cleveland Browns are ruled out.
That leaves the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. But Acho only played with the Giants for 42 days (September 10-October 21, 2013), making the Eagles far more likely.
It’s worth noting that while one of Acho’s co-hosts was stunned by his story, McCoy didn’t seem surprised at all. He barely blinked. McCoy played with the Eagles from 2009-2014 and was Acho’s teammate. If the incident happened in Philadelphia, McCoy would surely already be aware of it and that might explain his ho-hum reaction [pictured below, McCoy is the second photo].
Three Options Narrowed To One?
Using the process of elimination logic above, combined with the three police stations in closest proximity to the practice facilities, I’ve ranked the most likely police departments involved.
1.) Philadelphia Police Department 1st District (2013-2015)
2.) East Rutherford PD (2013)
3.) Berea Police Department (2012)
If it was indeed the Philadelphia Eagles who helped Acho assign blame to an innocent driver, then the NFL may want to discuss the issue with “Big Dom” DiSandro, who has worked with the Eagles since 1999 and was promoted to Senior Advisor to the General Manager/Chief Security Officer two years before Acho arrived in Philadelphia.
There is no evidence that DiSandro did anything wrong, but since the other two teams don’t have security staff with such tenure, I’d imagine he’d be the first person the NFL would talk to if they decide to probe this concern.
