The arrest of Bears running back Cedric Benson has developed into one of more gripping legal dramas that the NFL has seen since Mark Chmura decided to cavort with high-school girls.

Police claim that Benson was operating his boat while under the influence and that Benson thereafter resisted arrest.  Benson claims that he wasn’t drunk and that he was mistreated by police, a contention that has been corroborated by one of the women who were on his boat.

Benson is now finding support from a woman who had no connection to his boat.  Toby Patch claims that he saw police “manhandling” Benson after they took him off the boat. 

“As they were taking him up the dock, they stopped.  He said, ‘I am fine, I can continue walking,’ and they put their legs behind his knees and knocked him over his knees and started hog-carrying him,” Patch told KXAN in Texas, via the Chicago Tribune.

“They ended up — I don’t know why — but laid him on his back, I head him say, ‘Please don’t pepper spray me, please don’t pepper spray me.’  It was uncalled for, it was ludicrous, no point for it.”

Meanwhile, the Tribune has the Benson booking video, which really doesn’t show much of anything.

Benson reportedly is considering a lawsuit, and we think that he should go for it, since it’s the best way to get to the truth as to what happened on that boat.