Former Cowboys Player Cut for Shoplifting Charges and It Turns Out It Wasn't Even Him

Lucky Whitehead's shoplifting case was dropped Tuesday, ruled a mistaken identity case just a day after the Cowboys cut him for it.

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USA Today Sports

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lucky whitehead

Chris Tucker once famously quipped that you have to be a "stupid motherfucker" to get fired on a day off. The case of former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Lucky Whitehead is a little different, because he lost his job over something he didn't do.

If you're working to get up to speed here, a warrant for Whitehead's arrest was issued on Monday in connection to an alleged shoplifting incident at a convenience store in Virginia. Following something of a weird offseason, in which Whitehead was dealing with ransom demands over a stolen dog, the Cowboys decided it was time to send him packing, and cut him on the first day of NFL training camp.

Though the franchise kept around players who committed way worse crimes in the past, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett justified the decision by appealing to platitudes about character.

"In handling the situation and evaluating with the authorities there and in talking to him, we just didn't feel like it's in the best interest of the Cowboys to have him with us," said Garrett.

And that's when the story took a twist. Whitehead and his agent, David Rich, had insisted it was a case of mistaken identity and that he hadn't done anything wrong. For once, this was actually true, as reports broke early Tuesday that Whitehead was indeed mistaken for someone else during an investigation by the Prince William County Police Department.

Per agent Dave Rich, all charges were dropped for former #Cowboys WR Lucky Whitehead. Warrant rescinded. Cops had the wrong guy.

The cops got things so wrong, in fact, that the police department had to issue a long statement apologizing to Whitehead for the series of events that transpired.

"At this point, the police department is also confident in confirming that Mr. Whitehead's identity was falsely provided to police during the investigation," they said. "Since the identifying information provided by the arrestee during the investigation was apparently false, the police department is working with the Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney's Office to clear Mr. Whitehead from this investigation. The police department regrets the impact these events had on Mr. Whitehead and his family."

Considering Whitehead quite literally lost his job over this, I don't think an, "Oops, our bad!" is going to cut it here. It wouldn't be a shock to see this turn into a lawsuit down the road. And of course, rival fans swooped on the mistake, mocking the Cowboys for cutting someone who was actually innocent.

I think they cut him because he was not guilty lol
They don't want innocent people influencing their guilty people
Man this shit ain't funny or uncommon. This dude just lost his job due to a "fits the description" bullshit arrest
Jerry Jones logic:
Beat a woman-OK
Do drugs-OK
Get in bar fights-OK
Allegedly shop lift-Cut

Makes sense, loser

I'll leave the puns about him being unlucky to the rest of the internet. Losing your job over someone else's screw up is garbage, and hopefully Whitehead is able to stick somewhere else. 

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