Ron Mexico lawsuit
In March 2005 a woman named Sonya Elliott filed a civil lawsuit against Vick alleging she contracted
genital herpes from Vick and that he failed to inform her that he had the
disease.
[10] Elliot further alleged that Vick had visited clinics under the alias "Ron Mexico" to get treatments and thus he knew of his condition. This led to a deluge of fans ordering customized #7 Atlanta Falcons jerseys on NFLShop.com with the name "Mexico" on the back.
[11] Due to the media interest surrounding the case, the National Football League disallowed the use of the jersey/name combination two days after the lawsuit. On
April 24,
2006 Vick's attorney revealed that the lawsuit had settled out of court with a undisclosed settlement.
[12]
Video game developer
Midway Games has alluded to Vick and his Ron Mexico
alter-ego in their 2006 title,
Blitz: The League. Due to Midway's loss of the National Football League license (EA Sports now has exclusive NFL licensing), all teams and players in the game are fictitious. However, the "Washington Redhawks"' star quarterback is a mobile, left-handed passer named "Mike Mexico."
Obscene gesture incident
After a Falcons loss to the New Orleans Saints in the
Georgia Dome on
November 26,
2006, Vick made an
obscene gesture at Atlanta fans, holding up two middle fingers.
[13] Vick has said, "I'm sorry and I apologize to all the young kids and to whoever saw me make that gesture. I just let my emotions get the best of me in that situation and it won't happen again."
[14] Vick was fined $10,000 by the NFL for his obscene gesture, and agreed to donate another $10,000 to
charity.
Water bottle incident
On
January 17,
2007 Vick surrendered a water bottle to security at
Miami International Airport. Due to Vick's reluctance to leave the bottle behind, it was later retrieved from a trash receptacle. The bottle was found to have a hidden compartment that contained "a small amount of dark particulate and a pungent aroma closely associated with marijuana," a
Miami police report said. "The compartment was hidden by the bottle's label so that it appeared to be a full bottle of water when held upright," police said. On Monday,
January 22,
2007, the test results indicated there were no illegal substances in the water bottle and Vick was cleared of any wrongdoing. Vick also was drug tested and the results were negative.
[15]
The security tape from the airport documenting the incident has also been erased because, according to
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
Miami-Dade Police Department spokesman Robert Williams wrote in an e-mail: "That information was shown to the
State's Attorney's office and it was determined by them that no criminal act was committed and no charges were filed. Therefore, this video was deleted from the flash drive since it was not being used in a criminal case."
[16]
The Falcons later released the following statement: "We appreciate the speed at which the Miami authorities concluded their investigation, and we are pleased to learn of the outcome of the investigation. This is another reminder of the high-profile nature of a professional athlete and the close scrutiny players undergo related to their conduct on and off the field. We look forward to putting this matter behind us."
[17]
On
March 22,
2007, Vick announced that the water bottle was a jewelry stash box, and that the substance in question had been jewelry. Vick indicated that he keeps his jewelry there to prevent theft.
[18]
Before the test results indicated there were no illegal substances in the water bottle and Vick was cleared of any wrongdoing,
Saturday Night Live went on to do a parody of the incident in which they questioned Vick's actions in a skit called
"Really?"
Missed appearance on Capitol Hill
On
April 24,
2007, Vick was scheduled to lobby on
Capitol Hill, hoping to persuade lawmakers to increase funding for after-school programs. Vick missed a connecting flight in
Atlanta on Monday and failed to show for his Tuesday morning appearance.
[19]
Vick's publicist, Susan Bass, said it wasn't his fault. Vick was in
Tampa, Florida, on Monday to play in teammate
Warrick Dunn's charity golf tournament, then caught a flight to Atlanta that was supposed to arrive in time for him to make another flight to
Reagan National Airport in
Arlington, Virginia. However, the
AirTran flight was late leaving Tampa, and Vick missed his connection, and wound up stuck in Atlanta, Bass said. "He was really mad," Bass added. AirTran booked Vick on a later flight Monday evening in time to make the Tuesday morning appearance, but Vick failed to show for the flight.
Vick's mother, Brenda Vick Boddie, accepted an award from the Afterschool Alliance on her son's behalf. Vick was honored for his foundation's work with after-school projects in
Georgia and
Virginia.
And now dog murdering
