Should Suh Face Criminal Prosecution?

The great Ndamukong Suh debate is on. Well, it really hasn't ended since Thanksgiving, and it really didn't begin then anyway. NFL players think he's a dirty player, no one has rushed to defend his actions during the third quarter of the Lions 27-15 Thanksgiving Day loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Packers don't think his punishment was harsh enough, and Suh has appealed the suspension. But we wonder whether it should end anyway with mere sanction by the National Football League and its fans and pundits?

What he did on the fields would be considered assault if it happened on the streets or at a neighborhood bar or business. Why should the civil authorities not be able to charge an athlete with a crime even when the act occurs in the arena?

No one buys Suh's it happened in the heat of the moment defense. No one accepts that he might have been goaded into his stomp. But as most assaults happen in the heat of the moment as well, and most assaulters are prone to argue they had reason to attack, well, the guy who acted from his bar stool would not be safe from criminal prosecution under similar circumstances, would he? Why should an NFL lineman on a football field?

Does the law end at the sidelines? Should it? We believe that it is time to consider those questions, and to perhaps use the long arm of the law to reign in on field atrocities. The athletic arena cannot be a shield for actions which would get anyone arrested.