Early Tuesday morning, Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson was arrested in Austin and charged with assaulting a bar bouncer on May 30.  While Benson could face up to a year in jail, ESPN’s Adam Shefter said a league source described the incident as minor.

According to the arrest affidavit, Benson was involved in a late night bar fight when employees broke up the fight.  The running back allegedly injured his lip in the fight and spat blood at a bar employee, and once escorted outside allegedly said “All these white boys are ganging up on me and kicking me out.”

According to the police report, a bar bouncer heard that and egged Benson on with “I’m going to take time out of my busy job to kick you out?” Benson allegedly responded by punching the bouncer with a right hand, which knocked the smart-mouthed punk back but not down.

Without even hearing Benson’s side of the story, I think it should be obvious that he’s completely faultless here.  Benson was born in Texas and played his college ball at UT, so I’m sure this isn’t the first time he’s had to deal with racism. Hopefully he will be cleared of all charges and not punished in any way by the league or the Bengals.

Last year, despite playing in only 13 games, Benson had the 7th-best rushing season in Bengal history, gaining a career-high 1251 yards.