Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Is No Michael Vick

To say that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has been having difficulties since he lost his championship to Forrest Griffin would be quite an understatement.

Quinton looked different to me from the time he turned the corner in the arena and walked towards the octagon. He did not fight with his typical rampaging fierceness and focus. He seemed to be muffled, detached in a sense, from what was occurring in the ring, even as it was happening.

I have had more than one out-of-the-body experience and it appeared to me that Rampage was having one that night. His actions and statements after the fight did nothing to assuage my fears, especially when he made the telephone symbol with his hand and asked someone he called "Boo" to call him and meet him to celebrate his birthday, which had occurred the month before.

When I learned of his slow-speed chase, I was very puzzled and confused. Although Rampage had hard times in his youth, he had avoided run-ins with the police and did not have any sort of criminal record.

If Rampage was known for anything, it was for his sense of humor. So why did he proceed to run from the police?

The fact that it was not a high-speed chase with so many cars hit was certainly very unusual. His being on the cell phone and continuing to drive until he was in view of his friend's house was also curious.

Now, I have seen an interview with Rampage suggesting that his celebrity and being an MMA fighter may have lead to him being abused by the police, who were supposedly taking him to be locked up.

Rampage stated that they kept driving him from one health facility to another trying to "get his blood pressure to go down."

There may be a police protocol that does call for a person to be in stable physical condition before being taken to jail and booked, but during this ride, the officers made "guess who we have got in our police car" calls and took pictures of Rampage with cell phones.

Do I believe this? Yes! Policemen are just as starstruck and shallow as the rest of us.

Do I think this was fair or the proper procedure to use? Hell no!

Rampage stated that he was too large for the backseat of the cop car and was very uncomfortable with his hands cuffed tightly behind him. I have been in that situation and know exactly how uncomfortable it is.

Maybe the police were legitimately frightened of Rampage, but why drive around for hours—and it was hours—with someone "so dangerous" for such a long time, thus increasing the risk of an incident happening? It just does not make any sense to me at all.

When Dana White, who was in Las Vegas, got the call, he flew immediately to Orange County and still got to the jail before Rampage arrived from the circuitous and tortuous ride to the facility.

The way Rampage was handled is certainly NOT the way to lower a delusional and agitated person's blood pressure, and I know this first hand.

Rampage was further humiliated by being dragged into a hospital for a BP check with his pants falling down, exposing his underwear.

The cops "lead him" by raising up the tight handcuffs behind his back, keeping him off balance and causing him to lean forward to attempt to ease the pressure.

After three weeks, his hands were still numb and showing the marks left by the cuffs being so tight.

Brutality? Sure sounds like it to me.

When I think of all the time I have spent watching delusional patients and compare the way the police officers treated Rampage, it makes me shudder in absolute horror. I can only imagine what he must have been thinking. The police are lucky he did not code or go berserk; I think many persons, myself included, would have gone off big time.

So now Rampage, who has big black holes in his memory, is not sure what even happened. It will be hard to defend himself in court if he indeed chooses to testify in his own defense.

I hope the lawyer defending him is a very good one. I would hate to see Rampage railroaded into a longer sentence for his scrape with the law than Michael Vick got for the atrocities he committed.

Intent to cause harm, or having the knowledge of the possibility of harming another is usually the criteria that is necessary before assigning guilt.

No one can tell me that Michael Vick did not knowingly torture his dogs before killing them—he knew it was wrong.

Quinton Jackson thought he had to hurry to save a friend's life. He was completely delusional and not aware of the reality of his situation or the harm he was causing.

There is a definite difference in these two cases.

I would be willing to go to court and testify in Quinton's favor and strongly recommend one year of probation, with community service.

Quinton could be a role model for young people; Michael Vick could not.

There is no racial issue here, and I am telling it like it is, and not how I would like it to be.

There is a difference!