Those who found Taylor Hendricks’ first arrest funny shouldn’t chuckle at his latest one.
The Philadelphia Eagles fan, who rose to national fame in 2018 after he punched a police horse during an NFL playoff game, was sentenced to four months to two years in prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal trespass and two counts of simple assault. Hendricks admitted to entering a stranger’s home in the early morning hours of June 1 in Bethlehem, Penn., in a drunken stupor and beating one of the occupants so badly he required a two-day stay in a local hospital, according to LehighValleyLive’s Rudy Miller. Hendricks also kneed a police officer in the groin at the police station, a crime that netted him two years of probation once his parole expires.
“One second I was hanging out with my girlfriend having a fun night,” the victim said, per Miller. “The next I was struggling with a drunk man who forced his way into my girlfriend’s house.”
Hendrick’s attorney, Gary Asteak, claims his client was confused and looking for a friend who used to live in the house.
“This wasn’t something I planned to do,” Hendricks said. “I just kind of ended up at the wrong house and my intoxicated situation ended up in a fight-or-flight instinct. It’s the most regrettable thing I’ve ever done my life.”
Hendricks was able to wipe the aggravated assault and other charges related to the horse-punching incident from his criminal record by successfully completing a special program for first-time offenders. Although this latest crime technically is his first criminal offense, the extremely violent nature of it prevented the court from treating it as a “one-time aberration.”
Perhaps the prison stay and abstaining from alcohol will prevent Hendricks from menacing humans and animals in the future.
