Briggs Charged in Accident, Escapes Team Discipline

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Aug 28, 2007 12:27PM

It's been barely more than 24 hours since Lance Briggs' brand new $450,000 Lamborghini was found wrapped around a pole on the side of the Edens Expressway. In that time, we have learned that he was in fact driving the car at the time of the accident, and as a result on Monday was charged with leaving the scene of an accident -- a misdemeanor-- and ticketed for failure to immediately notify police of a crash and for improper lane usage.

When meeting with Illinois State Police, he admitted to being behind the wheel at the time of the accident but gave no further information concerning the events that lead up the accident. Was he drunk? Did he flee to avoid a sobriety test? Because nobody was injured in the accident and no evidence at the scene indicated alcohol, Briggs looks like he's home free on that count.

NBC5 reports that during the evening that lead up to the 3am accident, Briggs visited at least two clubs -- Krem, which is on Clark St. in Lincoln Park, and Level, in the Viagra Triangle.

So was Briggs drunk at the time of the accident, or did he simply take advantage of an empty expressway to see what his new 632-horsepower toy could really do? We likely will never know.

When asked about the incident on Monday, Bears coach Lovie Smith downplayed the event, "We have a one-car accident and now alcohol is involved? I think that's stretching it a little bit to go that far." True, there is no evidence besides Briggs' fleeing the scene, which is clearly circumstantial. But if he had nothing to hide, then why didn't he call or wait for assistance? Hmmm?

Regardless, clearly the Bears have put the incident behind the organization. When asked if Briggs would be disciplined for the accident and whatever transpired, Lovie Smith bristled, "Disciplined for what? A one-car accident? No. He hasn't broken any team rules as far as I know. There's no reason to. We're jumping pretty far to assume [things]."

One thing that nobody has to assume is that, even if he gets off with just the slap on the wrist, the event will certainly be costly for Briggs -- one can only assume what the repair bills are going to be on his Lambo! And even if State Farm or Geico picks up the tab this time, he's likely looking at some sky high insurance premiums. Hope he was insured with Allstate and their "Accident Forgiveness" plan!

Photo by AP Photo/M. Spencer Green