Henton claims police didn’t read him his rights

The backup quarterback also said he wasn’t trying to pay for sex.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS — Ohio State backup quarterback Antonio Henton, who pleaded guilty in November to a minor misdemeanor count of loitering for prostitution, said Saturday during the Buckeyes’ national championship preparations that police wrongly arrested him and did not read him his rights.

A Columbus police spokesman disputed Henton’s version of the arrest.

Henton, a redshirt freshman from Fort Valley, Ga., spoke with reporters for the first time since his arrest just south of the Ohio State campus on Sept. 24 for offering a female police officer $20 for a sex act.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Henton said during the Buckeyes’ bowl media day at the Louisiana Superdome before Monday night’s title game against LSU. “The police officers pulled me over to the corner. Like anybody else I stopped, and she was harassing me. Then it got flipped around, the story got flipped around. So of course they’re going to take the officer’s side of the story.”

Henton said when the female officer beckoned to him, she asked him what he wanted to do and he asked, “What do you mean?”

“I guess because of me saying ‘For what?’ she took it as a price, that she was throwing a price out at me,” he said. “It really wasn’t nothing like I was looking for sex or whatever.”

After suspending Henton from the team for a week, coach Jim Tressel reinstated him and allowed him to practice with the team. In a plea deal with prosecutors, Henton pleaded guilty on Nov. 12 to a minor misdemeanor count of loitering for prostitution. He paid court costs of $156 and is required to attend a “john school” for people convicted of prostitution-related offenses.

First view

Jim Tressel glanced up at the roof, scanned the multicolored seats and looked down at the field.

Alone in thought, he took in the whole scene.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been in the Superdome,” the Ohio State coach said Saturday.

Tressel and the Buckeyes got their initial look at the stadium during media day interviews. Monday night, Ohio State will be back to play LSU for the BCS national championship.

“I’ve watched it on television, so many huge games,” Tressel said. “And whether they be college football or pro football, just look around and tie that together with where you saw it in the national scheme of things, with Katrina.”

Opened in 1975 and home to the New Orleans Saints, the Superdome held a string of major events during its first three decades, including six Super Bowls, more than any other stadium.

There’s more. Michael Jordan’s jumper won the 1982 NCAA basketball title for North Carolina. Muhammad Ali earned the heavyweight title for the third time. Sugar Ray Leonard beat Roberto Duran in the “no mas” fight at the dome.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, upward of 30,000 evacuees found shelter inside the Superdome.

Ohio State tight end Brandon Smith and safety Jamario O’Neal brought video cameras Saturday and walked around together, talking about the building’s present and past.