Driver Recounts Events on Night of Blades Shooting

All was fun the night of July 4 for brothers Brian and Bennie Blades--both NFL players--and their cousin Charles Blades, out for a round of partying.

Driver Mike Asher picked them up in a limousine at Brian’s and Bennie’s next-door townhouses in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., suburb of Plantation. That was at 10:30 p.m., Asher said Tuesday, testifying in Brian Blades’ manslaughter trial for the shooting death of Charles Blades that night.

Brian Blades, 30, is a receiver with the Seattle Seahawks; Bennie Blades is a safety with the Detroit Lions.

Ninety minutes after they headed out for the evening--the group was back in Plantation, in front of Bennie Blades’ townhouse. They’d returned because Carol Jamerson--Bennie’s former girlfriend and the mother of his daughter Amber, 3, was there, and she was angry. She wanted to discuss who would be taking care of Amber through the rest of the holiday weekend.

Bennie argued with Carol, shouting, and Brian stepped in to keep the peace.

“Brian was telling Bennie to go inside, that he’d take care of it,” Asher recalled.

But Bennie rejected his older sibling’s efforts, and the two ended up in a shoving match that left Brian on the ground.

That, Asher said, is when Brian threatened to get a gun and shoot Bennie.

Brian Blades “said he was going to show [Bennie]. He was going to get his gun and shoot him. He went in the direction of his townhouse,” Asher testified.

Charles Blades died of a single gunshot wound suffered a short time later in a scuffle with Brian over a handgun.

Brian could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted on the manslaughter charge.

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A judge in Dallas refused to throw out Michael Irvin’s indictment on felony drug possession. The charges stem from a raid at a motel where the Dallas Cowboy receiver was celebrating his birthday.

Defense attorney Don Godwin pleaded for state District Judge Manny Alvarez to throw out the indictment against Irvin and two topless dancers, saying the grand jury had been improperly selected.

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After four decades of toying with boxing reform, Congress is finally on the verge of doing something to regulate the disjointed and corruption-prone sport. But not much.

Two House subcommittees held hearings on the Professional Boxing Safety Act. The act’s major plank is designed to prevent boxers from fighting in one state after being suspended in another.

Boxers would be required to obtain identification cards, and states would be required to report fight results and suspensions within 48 hours of a bout.

“This bill would affect only about 2% of boxing matches in America,” said Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.).

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University of Massachusetts administrators met to discuss allegations that former center Marcus Camby accepted gifts from agents while playing for the Minutemen. The university expects to finish its investigation by the end of the summer and submit a report to the NCAA.

Soccer

Having defeated Scotland and Ireland with relative ease in recent weeks, the United States plays Bolivia at RFK Stadium in Washington tonight in the four-nation U.S. Cup ’96 tournament.

Mexico plays Ireland at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. A victory by both teams would set up Sunday’s United States-Mexico game for the title at the Rose Bowl.

Two goals by surprise starter Pierluigi Casiraghi led Italy to a 2-1 victory over Russia in the European Championships at London. In another game, Goran Vlaovic scored with five minutes left to give Croatia a 1-0 victory over Turkey.

Miscellany

Pepperdine baseball Coach Pat Harrison resigned to accept a similar position with the University of Mississippi. In two seasons, Harrison’s teams posted an 89-39-1 record and won the West Coast Conference championship in his first season.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed running back Leonard Green, a free agent from USC. Green, 24, began last season as the Trojans’ starting tailback, but he sat out most of the year after suffering an ankle sprain in his third game.

Less than three weeks after a devastating crash that almost cost him his left foot, Alessandro Zampedri is talking about resuming his career as a race driver. Zampedri was injured in a crash involving three cars on the final turn of the final lap of the Indianapolis 500. His left foot was literally crushed. He lost three toes, and it took a vein transfer, muscle transplant and five operations to avoid amputation of the entire foot.

Unseeded Hicham Arazi of Morocco knocked second-seeded Spaniard Alberto Costa out of the Heineken Open grass-court tennis tournament in the Netherlands, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (9-7).

Former Philadelphia Phillie outfielder Wes Chamberlain and Florida Marlin outfielder Darrell Whitmore have signed one-year contracts with the Lotte Marines of Chiba, Japan. Also in Japan, the Hanshin Tigers released Glenn Davis, who last played in the majors for the Baltimore Orioles, and Scott Coolbaugh, who had played for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Stanford (NCAA Division I), UC Davis (Division II), Williams College (Division III) and Pacific Lutheran (NAIA) each received Sears Directors Cups in recognition of their overall athletic superiority. The cup is awarded to the school in each division which has the most points in all intercollegiate sports competition, both for men and and women.

The Pontiac Excitement Nationals drag races, postponed last week by rain in Hebron, Ohio, will resume Friday.