BOSTON – Gosder Cherilus, a former NFL offensive lineman and Boston College football star, is accused of urinating on another passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight.
According to the police report, Cherilus appeared to be drunk when he arrived at Logan Airport. Before the flight took off, he allegedly argued with another passenger about the seating arrangement.
About an hour into the flight, investigators said, he approached an elderly woman, exposed himself and “emptied his entire bladder for approximately 20 seconds.”
Nowadays, you can’t pee on older women mid-flight. Not on Delta Airlines. If it were Spirit Airlines, the discussion might be different. I’m as much of a Spirit Airlines advocate as anyone. They always get me to my destination on time. But when you fly Spirit, you have to understand that there’s a good chance you’ll arrive at your destination covered in pee. But that doesn’t work on Delta. If you pay extra for a Delta flight, you have the right to expect that not Have a 6’6″ and 280lb former NFL offensive lineman empty his bladder right in your face for 20 seconds
If you’re a Boston College fan, you probably remember Gosder Cherilus from his days protecting Matt Ryan’s blindside. From there, Cherilus had a solid career. He played his first five seasons with the Lions. Then he signed a $35 million contract with the Colts, making him the highest-paid right tackle in the league at the time. He played his final couple of seasons with Tampa Bay before retiring in 2017. These days, he prepares for his Dublin vacations by getting drunk at the airport and peeing on old ladies (or at least near them) mid-flight. Unfortunately for Gosder, I have to think he’ll ultimately go down in history for the latter. At least in my eyes. That’s the hard thing about an O-line career. Not enough memorable plays. If he’d made some spectacular catches or breathtaking runs, those highlights might stand out more than the pissing incident. But if you’re an O-lineman and the best highlight you have on the internet is a supercut of your snaps from the first half of a game in Week 1 of 2011, then public urination on an airplane once is enough for that to be your lasting legacy.
Also, this incident is another reason why we need security cameras on airplanes. I have no idea why we don’t have them yet. You’d think that with all the security measures that were put in place after 9/11, cameras on airplanes would be part of it. But no. They just don’t exist. And if they do, I’ve never seen them. That’s a real shame, because I’d really like to know how that went down.
According to court documents, passengers and crew on the flight were in shock and feared for their safety. The crew tried to stop Cherilus, but they said he became uncontrollable and aggressive.
On the way back to his seat, he reportedly hit an elderly man with his right hand.
Cherilus is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 270 pounds. State police said officers had to use “two pairs of handcuffs” when they arrested him because of his size.
Because the incident occurred during the flight over Canadian waters, a federal investigation is currently underway.
He had to do it over Canadian waters too. Now they have to call in the Mounties.
Cherilus isn’t giving up without a fight, though. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing flight operations, disorderly conduct, and resisting prosecution. And again, if there were cameras on board, that would really help clear things up in a situation like this. Whenever there’s an incident on a plane, it always becomes a “he says, she says”-“she says” between passengers and flight attendants. Unless someone is observant enough to pull out their phone and take a video. And honestly, shame on the other passengers for not filming that. I’m sure they were scared shitless. But you have to be more observant than just sitting in your seat with your eyes closed and praying that a golden shower doesn’t rain down on you from the cock of the biggest man you’ve ever seen. Companies like Barstool Sports rely on videos of airplane freakouts to stay in business. You’re the reason half of us have jobs. We need this damn video.
Gosder has since provided an explanation for his behavior. In fact, his explanation is something I think about every time I see a video of an airplane freakout.
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When someone loses their mind on an airplane, I always wonder what kind of “flight tranquilizer” drug they were taking beforehand. But even if we give Cherilus the benefit of the doubt here and admit that his erratic behavior was due to this new drug, you can’t take a brand new sleep aid for the first time before a 6+ hour flight. You have to test that out at home first. A 6+ hour flight to Dublin is far too unfamiliar/trapped a situation to experiment with new drugs. Especially if he was drinking. Plus, the flight from Boston to Dublin is long enough that you could probably wait until the plane actually takes off before taking the drug. And as far as I know, “I’m sorry I did that, judge. But you have to understand that I was drugged” is not an excuse that will hold up in court.
These must be tough times for the Cherilus family, but if it helps, here are some of his pass protection highlights from college against Wake Forest to remind you of the good times.
