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Troubled ex-Raider Robbins shot by Miami police officer
By DAVID OVALLE, JACOB GOLDSTEIN and REBECCA DELLAGLORIA
Miami Herald
Posted on Sun, Jan. 16, 2005
MIAMI - A former pro football player famous for disappearing on the
eve of the 2003 Super Bowl and for his struggles with depression and
alcoholism had likely stopped taking his medications when he fought
with a Miami Beach officer, who shot the burly player twice in the
torso, his agent said Sunday.
Police said Barret Robbins, 31 - who once had a multi-million dollar
contract with the Oakland Raiders - apparently broke into the office
building on the 1200 block of Washington Avenue at about 8 p.m.
Saturday.
The building also houses the popular South Beach nightclub Mansion,
a photo studio and a gym.
When Detective Mike Muley confronted Robbins on the second floor,
the two struggled, and the officer opened fire on Robbins, who was
not armed.
Robbins remains in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital's
Ryder Trauma Center. He will likely be charged with battery on a
police officer, although additional charges could be added.
``As far as we're concerned, he was a burglary suspect,'' said Miami
Beach spokesman Bobby Hernandez of the offensive lineman.
But Robbins' agent said his client was probably still struggling
with the demons that helped unravel his nine-year NFL career as a
center. The Raiders cut him in July after he tested positive for use
of the designer steroid THG.
Robbins has said he had been diagnosed as being bipolar, which posed
a constant struggle for equilibrium in his life.
``I'm guessing he was not trying to burglarize the building,''
Robbins agent, Drew Pittman, told the Herald on Sunday. ``He might
not have known where he was. He might have thought he was trying to
get into his front door.''
Pittman said he knows Robbins was on medication for his condition,
but he did not know what he had been prescribed.
Muley, who suffered minor head injuries in the scuffle with the
6-foot 3-inch, 300-pound Robbins, was treated and released from
Mount Sinai Medical Center.
As is routine with any police-involved shooting, the department is
investigating the incident.
The shooting added another twist to the tortured story of the former
Raider - and ongoing downward spiral. This was Robbins second arrest
in less than a month.
It is still not clear why Robbins was inside the building.
``There was no reason for the general public to be where he was, but
we don't know exactly what he was doing,'' Hernandez said.
Robbins, who is separated from his wife, has two daughters and calls
the Oakland area home, had been AWOL from his life in recent days.
He might have been in South Florida about a week. It is not clear
why or where he stayed. His family had lost contact with him in
recent days.
Attempts to contact his family were unsuccessful.
Since being released by the Raiders, Robbins had launched a home
building business and a recording studio, his agent said.
``But his life was still in turmoil,'' said Pittman, his agent.
Robbins' story made national headlines in 2003, but his troubles
were well-known in Oakland before that.
The big offensive lineman played at Texas Christian University and
was selected 49th overall in the NFL draft by the then-Los Angeles
Raiders in 1995.
His heavy drinking raised eyebrows his rookie season - more than a
year later, he was hospitalized after he was found disoriented
and wandering around the team hotel.
The next fall, he told to The San Francisco Chronicle that he had
been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder.
``It's a battle within your head,'' Robbins told the paper. ``It's
not an easy thing to deal with.''
By 2002, he was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time. But as the
team prepared to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII,
he slipped out of the team's hotel two nights before the game and
disappeared.
Witnesses later said he spent the night drinking, his moods swinging
wildly.
He showed up to a team meeting the following night and was not
allowed to play. The Raiders lost to Tampa Bay, 48-21.
After spending about a month at the Betty Ford Clinic in California,
Robbins returned to the Raiders, only to be cut in July 2004 after
he tested positive for THG, which was supplied by the former owner
of BALCO, a company at the center of a high-profile federal
investigation into use of steroids by well-known athletes.
But his troubles continued. On Christmas Eve, he was arrested for
drunk and disorderly conduct in San Francisco after allegedly
hitting a nightclub security guard. The disposition of that case is
unknown.
``Our thoughts and prayers go out to Barret and his family, and we
hope he makes a full and speedy recovery,'' the Raiders said in a
release, according to ESPN.com.
Experts say those with bipolar disorder experience psychotic
episodes, which can include hallucinations or delusions.
A sufferer might believe that he is the president of the United
States or that he has committed a horrible crime.
Episodes like these are uncommon, but some two million Americans
suffer from milder forms of bipolar disorder.
The disease is episodic - it comes in waves, with symptoms rising up
for a period of weeks or months, then fading away.
Bipolar disorder can be treated with therapy and drugs that
stabilize mood swings and prevent psychosis. If left untreated, the
disease tends to worsen, with symptoms becoming more severe and more
frequent.
``If you don't take medication, there's often a fairly rapid
relapse,'' said Jon Shaw, a University of Miami psychiatrist.
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Ex-Raider transferred, faces attempted murder charges
By wire services,br>
April 9, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
MIAMI - Former Raiders lineman Barret Robbins, still
recovering from gunshot wounds after a struggle with police,
was transferred to a Texas hospital to continue rehab and
treatment for bipolar disorder.
The former Pro Bowl center faces criminal charges stemming
from a Jan.15 fight with police making a burglary call at a
building that housed a pub, gym and jewelry store. Robbins,
found hiding in a women's restroom, allegedly beat one police
officer to the floor, slammed another into a wall and rammed a
third officer's head into a wall. Robbins was shot twice in
the chest by police.
Robbins, who has posted a $51,000 bond, will move to a
hospital near his father's home in Houston, his attorney,
Edward O'Donnell. The arrangement was approved Friday by
Circuit Judge Kevin Emas, who is presiding over the criminal
case.
Robbins, 31, has pleaded innocent to three counts of attempted
felony murder and other charges. Robbins' downward spiral
began in early 2003, when he disappeared before the Super Bowl
in San Diego, showed up the night before the game in an
incoherent state and was deactivated for the game against the
Bucs. He regained his starting spot the next season but was
released after testing positive for steroids.
McNair to play in '05
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Judge Decides Robbins 'Not Fit to be Discharged'
AP
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
MIAMI -- A Florida judge revoked bail Tuesday for
former Oakland Raiders center Barret Robbins on charges
of attempted murder stemming from a brawl with police
officers because of his recent arrest in Texas on a drug
charge.
Robbins, who was shot by Miami Beach officers during the
January fight, has been in a Houston psychiatric
hospital since his arrest Aug. 13 in San Antonio on a
marijuana possession charge. Robbins suffers from
bipolar disorder and it remains unclear when he will be
fit to return to Florida.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Kevin Emas revoked the $51,000
bond that Robbins posted in the Florida case, but
Robbins attorney Edward O'Donnell said his client ''is
in a lockdown situation'' and cannot travel immediately.
''He's not fit to be discharged,'' O'Donnell said.
Emas wants answers as soon as possible.
''I want to know, when can he surrender in court? I need
him in front of me,'' the judge said.
O'Donnell said he would give the judge a date for
Robbins to return after conferring with his Texas
doctors.
Robbins, a former Pro Bowl selection, fought with
several Miami Beach officers after they answered a
burglary call in a building that housed a pub, gym and
jewelry store. They shot him twice in the chest, leaving
him with wounds that kept him hospitalized for weeks.
He has pleaded innocent to the charges.
Robbins' well chronicled troubles began when he
disappeared before the Super Bowl in San Diego in early
2003, then showed up the night before the game in an
incoherent state and was deactivated for the game.
After spending a month in an alcohol rehabilitation
center, Robbins lost weight and regained his spot in the
Raiders' starting lineup the following year.
But the Raiders released him last summer after he tested
positive for steroids. Before the Miami Beach fight, he
was arrested for allegedly hitting a security guard in
San Francisco.
Robbins, who played at 380 pounds, was listed by San
Antonio police as 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds.
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Ex-Raider Robbins ordered back to Florida
AP
Wed, Aug. 24, 2005
MIAMI - Former Oakland Raiders center Barret Robbins has until Sept.
7 to return to Florida from Texas for a court hearing on attempted
murder charges.
Robbins, who was shot during a brawl with Miami Beach police
officers in January, has been receiving treatment for bipolar
disorder in a Houston psychiatric hospital following an Aug. 13
arrest for marijuana possession.
His attorney, Edward O'Donnell, told Circuit Judge Kevin Emas that
he spoke with Robbins' doctors Wednesday morning and they told him
it will be "a few days" before they can say when the former Pro Bowl
center will be able to leave the Houston hospital. Robbins has been
hospitalized since Aug. 17, O'Donnell said.
Emas said he would give Robbins time to recover and set a Sept. 7
date for Robbins to appear before him.
Emas on Tuesday decided to defer a decision whether to revoke
Robbins' bond after O'Donnell said his client "is in a lockdown
situation" and cannot travel immediately.
"If for whatever reason he can't be here, I need to have something
from his doctors," the judge said Wednesday.
In January, Robbins was shot twice in the chest after allegedly
fighting with Miami police who were making a burglary call. Robbins,
found hiding in a women's restroom, was accused of beating one
police officer to the floor, slamming another into a wall and
ramming a third officer's head into a wall.
Robbins' well chronicled troubles began when he disappeared before
the Super Bowl in San Diego in early 2003, then showed up the night
before the game in an incoherent state and was deactivated for the
game.
After spending a month in an alcohol rehabilitation center, Robbins
lost weight and regained his spot in the Raiders' starting lineup
the following year.
But the Raiders released him last summer after he tested positive
for steroids. Before the Miami Beach fight, he was arrested for
allegedly hitting a security guard in San Francisco.
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
