Logan Mayes' hit-and-run accident 'relatively minor'

Details are emerging about the hit and run for which Logan Mayes was arrested, and it appears that those who feared the worst had nothing to worry about.

Take it away, Christian Caple:

[Pullman Police Commander Chris] Tennant said an eyewitness called the police after seeing Mayes back his vehicle into another car in a parking lot. Mayes allegedly drove away without stopping to examine the damage or leave his information.

The damage consisted of a broken tail light. Mayes (who admitted to police that he did it) was cited, given a court date and released -- the same sort of "arrest" experienced by Toni Pole.

We all do stupid things in college, things that end up serving as life lessons. Had Mayes left his info at the scene, he probably could have paid cash for a new tail light without insurance getting involved. Instead, his insurance is going to go through the roof with a hit and run on his record (assuming he isn't offered diversion or something), Leach probably will be giving him some extra "conditioning" and he's suffered the public embarrassment of being arrested.

From what I know of Mayes and his parents, the latter is the most serious and will be dealt with posthaste.

We've talked about how it's been a bad couple of weeks for WSU football off the field, but as Brian advised, let's step back and take a look at what actually has transpired:

• Pole arrested for giving false information to an officer;
• Teondray Caldwell arrested for a number of things, including burglary and assault;
• Mayes arrested for backing into a car in a parking lot and driving away.

Are all of these pretty stupid things to do? Yep. Are any of them nefarious? Maybe Caldwell? But even that looks a little flimsy at this point. The most serious event was the assault that ended with Mansel Simmons having to retire, and while WSU players certainly weren't blameless, they didn't put their own teammate into the hospital - that was an Idaho player.

So, while nobody likes to see "WSU football player arrested" in a headline, it's hardly the stuff of 2006 and 2007. Heck, it's not even the stuff of 2010. It's mostly the stuff of doing dumb college kid things as a football player in the fishbowl of Pullman. Might be time to dial back the moral outrage a little bit.