MJD's agent is providing his client side of the story:

"That (report) is not factual," Bakari told the Union-Tribune last night. "Maurice was never arrested, not in his life. I don't understand. This is the first time we're having any communication with the cops. This is literally a guy (District Attorney Steve Cooley) trying to advance his career by targeting players, I'm going to be honest with you.

"They took the three notable guys in this whole situation to make a case. They sensationalized it. And when it comes out, the guys who actually did the assault - they didn't even go to UCLA, they didn't play football there. They were local guys that people knew."

Bakari acknowledged his client was in the restaurant, but said Drew arrived before Manning and left before Manning.

"This is just a lie," Bakari said. "They were not out together. They did not come together or leave together. Maurice drove his own car. He was already there before Ricky; he had ordered his food. I don't really understand what this propaganda is all about."

Who is this District Attorney Steve Cooley? From the DA's website: Cooley graduated from the USC Law Center in 1973 and joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office the same year. He and his wife Jana have lived in Toluca Lake for over 30 years. They have two grown children. Hmmm..... just because je went to USC Law Center doesn't make him a Trojan fan (depends on where he went to undegrad IMO). But still kind of interesting. Let's see how the facts bare out. But I still wish UCLA football players were not getting anywhere close to this kind of mess. The experiences we had from the Toledo era should make our coaching staff and administration know better. We cannot afford to take chances living in the number 2 media market in the United States, where the traditional media is all drunk with USC's success and the City Hall is filled with Trojan friends. When it comes to he said, he said situation in the media, UCLA because of its pathetic media operations (and its passive aggressive football coaching staff) always loses.