Deltha O’Neal, a cornerback, played nine seasons in the NFL. Both he and a passenger were injured in the Aug. 7 wreck on Crestwood Boulevard.
ROYAL PALM BEACH – A two-time NFL All Pro player is charged with DUI after a fiery car crash this summer in Royal Palm Beach that seriously injured both himself and a passenger, according to documents.
Deltha Lee O’Neal, of Royal Palm Beach, is charged with one count of DUI with serious injury and one of DUI with property damage. The first count is “enhanced” because of his high blood-alcohol level. A report said blood-alcohol tests placed his level at 0.162 and 0.163, double the legal threshold for impairment.
The passenger also has sued the 42-year-old, who played cornerback for the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots over nine NFL seasons.
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Miami-Dade police said they arrested O’Neal late on Dec. 4, at a home about five miles northeast of Miami International Airport, on the out-of-county warrant. The agency did not provide details.
O’Neal appeared before a Miami-Dade judge the morning of Dec, 5 and left jail on $3,000 bond, jail officials said.
O’Neal is set for arraignment in Palm Beach County on Jan. 9.
Calls made Wednesday to a telephone number listed for O’Neal in reports, as well as to lawyers identified as his attorneys in the criminal and civil cases, respectively, were not returned.
According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office report and a PBSO search warrant request, at about 8:30 p.m. Aug. 7, O’Neal was driving his black Mercedes-Benz north “at a high rate of speed” on the 7500 block of Crestwood Boulevard, near Madison Green Country Club.
For what authorities called “an unknown reason,” O’Neal lost control of the car on a curve. It struck a curb, spun and hit a utility pole and several trees, tearing off the vehicle’s rear end. The Mercedes-Benz then caught fire.
His passenger, Joseph Babcock of Royal Palm Beach, later would tell a PBSO investigator that O’Neal suddenly had accelerated on Crestwood and was going as fast as 100 mph. He said he’d told O’Neal to “slow the (expletive) down.”
Paramedics pulled out O’Neal and Babcock, and flew them to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
O’Neal sustained a broken ankle, a fractured back and neck, an eye injury, brain bleeding and intestinal injuries. Babcock, who had been in the front seat, had a broken femur and injuries to his spleen, hand and mouth.
At the hospital, a PBSO investigator said, O’Neal “was very agitated and was becoming combative with the hospital staff,” which sedated him and inserted a tube to help him breathe. A nurse said O’Neal “could barely speak and did not know where he was” and “was barely able to say his own first name.”
O’Neal told the investigator he’d been going home from the Bru’s Room sports bar in Royal Palm Beach after drinking beer; he did not say how much.
Babcock said he drank two or three beers and O’Neal drank beers, but other patrons then bought O’Neal at least three shots of “Jack Fire,” a whiskey and cinnamon liqueur blend.
Babcock sued O’Neal on Sept. 17. Babcock’s attorney, Michael J. McMullen declined Wednesday to comment on the active case.
O’Neal also told the investigators he previously had suffered concussions. While he didn’t say if they came during his playing career, the NFL has in recent years conducted a review of the long-term consequences of concussions on its players.
It’s not known how long O’Neal has lived in Palm Beach County. He bought his Royal Palm Beach house in 2002 but still owned a home near Atlanta as recently as 2015.
EK@pbpost.com
@eliotkpbp