The mother-in-law alibi

When Cardiff by the Sea resident, former NFL tight end star Kellen Winslow, Jr. was first arrested on June 7, for attempting to break into a unit in the El Camino Real neighborhood of Park Encinitas mobile homes, he claimed he was looking for a new home for his mother-in-law.

Some national media, which target a black audience, claimed racism and racial profiling.

“Winslow Jr. is the latest Black person to get the cops called on them for doing very ordinary things around white people,” stated reporter J.R. Gamble of TheShadowLeague, a sports-based website and internet radio station.

“A brother can’t be in the neighborhood looking to buy a home. If he’s Black with money he’s got to be an unsavory character. Or he’s just a thief planning to do a home invasion,” added Gamble in his June 11 report.

Gamble went on to point out the “San Diego Police Department” has a history of racial profiling. (Winslow was arrested by the Sheriff’s Department, not SDPD.)

The lifestyle editor of Rolingout Magazine reported, “It’s obvious that some White people would like to remove Black people from America. In the latest incident of overt racial profiling, a former NFL player was arrested for shopping for a home while being Black.”

Angela Helm, a reporter for the news website, The Root, lead her June 10 story of the arrest with the hashtag, #HouseHuntingWhileBlack.

Following Winslow’s initial arrest, his attorney and sports agency spokespersons were denying wrong doing, stating for the national news and sports media that it was a case of over-aggressive or nosy neighbors.

Meanwhile, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Dept. was receiving tips from several women over recent contacts with Winslow. On June 14, Winslow was re-arrested and jailed on additional charges.

At a July 13 hearing, Winslow, 34, faced felony charges of kidnapping, forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, forcible sodomy, and misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and trespassing. Several of his alleged victims testified against Winslow.

However some had a problem to identify him as he had changed his appearance, as in clean shaven, and wearing glasses.

Winslow was released on $2 million bail and now is under house arrest, with GPS tracking, confined to his gated home in the 1300 block of Lake Drive in Cardiff.