Looks like former Cooper star Dominic Rhodes will get off with a slap for his recent arrest.

Rhodes, who probably should’ve been the Super Bowl MVP, left the Colts a few weeks ago for a bigger check in Oakland. But, before he left, he was pulled over by state troopers and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol level greater than 0.08. (He was speeding, 81 in a 55)

Today Rhodes appeared in court and pleaded guilty to reckless driving after prosecutors dropped drunken driving charges against him. He was fined $1,000 in exchange for the plea and sentenced to 180 days in jail. He won’t be spending his summer in lockup, though, because 178 days were suspended and he received credit for two days.

The additional charged were apparently dropped because of “evidence problems,” though we don’t know exactly what that means. It would seem someone didn’t fill out the right paperwork or something of that nature. Had those charges not been dropped, Rhodes might have been in bigger trouble. The charges that didn’t hold were of the Class A variety, which would have carried up to a year of jail time.

I am not in the business of judging others, but this is not the first time Rhodes has gotten in trouble with the law. There were domestic battery charges filed in 2002 as well, but he avoided prosecution there, too, going into a diversionary program and mental health counseling.

He didn’t really get anything but a mark on his public image on this one, but maybe this was enough of a scare for him to get straight. Hopefully it was.

Dominic’s a good guy – I’ve talked with him on multiple occasions. He comes back to Abilene and does a lot with kids. All of his commendable actions, though, don’t erase his poor decisions. Whether he likes it or not, he’s in a position to have lots of kids – and adults for that matter – look up to him. He needs to be cognizant of that fact.

Oakland certainly doesn’t carry the shiny image that Indianapolis does, but it certainly isn’t Cincinnati. I for one hope Rhodes will do well with the Raiders – both on the field and off.