Bodyguard might have helped defuse any altercation at club
Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
Published January 3, 2007 at midnight
Most of Denver's pro athletes do not use bodyguards, and while some security experts say they should employ them, others say it is difficult to say whether a bodyguard could have prevented the slaying of Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams early Monday.
"This seems or appears to be fairly random and spontaneous," said J.J. Sutton, who heads Foremost Response Inc., which has offices in Aspen and Grand Junction. "One of the most difficult challenges that we face is the unplanned or spontaneous criminal threat."
Kelly Davis, a former Chicago police officer who worked as Dennis Rodman's bodyguard for four years, said professional athletes should have bodyguards, especially in places such as nightclubs.
"They're so recognizable - therefore, they are targets in the public eye," Davis said. "People in the public like to instigate things with particular athletes.
"As many as there are who love you, there are people who hate you and are jealous of what you have."
Davis said a bodyguard could have prevented an altercation at the club from getting out of hand.
"A professional should have stepped in and kept the peace between two parties, and ended the situation then and there," he said.
Davis said sometimes it's members of an athlete's entourage that cause trouble.
"When I was with Dennis Rodman, he had a large group," Davis said. "My main focus was Dennis Rodman, but these other people are your responsibility. What they do reflects on him."
While security experts said a bodyguard could try to defuse an altercation at a bar, or ask a bouncer or police to intervene, sometimes the most prudent course is to simply leave the club.
"Some people have nothing to lose," Davis said. "If they do what they just did, they make a name in the street. The person who did the shooting had nothing to lose. Mr. Williams did - he lost his life."
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