NFL suspends Vick after dog-fighting charges

ATLANTA: The National Football League ordered star quarterback Michael Vick on Monday not to report to pre-season training with his Atlanta Falcons team after he was indicted on dog-fighting charges.

Vick, 27, will receive full pay during the suspension, pending the league's own review of the indictment, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an announcement.

"While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility ... to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies," Goodell said in a letter to Vick.

Goodell told Vick the review would be completed as soon as possible and that his full cooperation was expected.

The Falcons open camp on Thursday, the same day Vick is scheduled to be arraigned in Richmond, Virginia, on charges he and three other men operated an illegal dog-fighting ring.

Vick, a three-time Pro Bowl selection with breakaway running speed and a powerful passing arm who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 draft, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury.

He has denied direct involvement in the pit bull fights that the indictment said took place on property he owns in Virginia.

Vick faces up to six years in jail and $350,000 in fines if convicted on all of the charges.

The indictment said dogs sometimes fought to the death on Vick's property and some losers had been put to death by drowning, hanging, gunshots and electrocution. It also charged that Vick and his associates shot dogs that did not pass muster after tests of their fighting ability.

Since the indictment, the NFL and the Falcons have been under pressure to take disciplinary action against Vick, one of the league's most high-profile players.

The Falcons have called a news conference for Tuesday at owner Arthur Blank's offices in Atlanta.

Goodell asked the Falcons to withhold any disciplinary action the team might have planned until the NFL's review of whether Vick violated the league's personal conduct policy or other rules.

Since last week's federal indictment, Vick's new Nike shoe line has been put on hold and animal rights activists from the PETA group have demonstrated outside NFL headquarters in New York and at Falcons' headquarters in Georgia.

Agencies

(China Daily 07/25/2007 page23)