Lunch with Bo: Suh handled crash 'the right way'

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By STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star

Bo Pelini said Tuesday he’s “really proud” of the way Ndamukong Suh handled matters in the wake of his car accident early Sunday morning.

“He called me right away,” the Husker coach said. “He told me exactly what the situation was, where he was, what happened. It was an accident. I thought he handled it the right way, very responsibly. He’s fully prepared to take care of the damages and all of that.”

Lincoln police cited the Nebraska senior nose tackle on suspicion of negligent driving. Suh told police he swerved to avoid hitting a cat or dog in the road, according to a police accident report. His 2003 Land Rover struck three vehicles parked along U Street between 30th and 31st streets at about 2:20 a.m.

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According to the accident report, a preliminary breath test measured the 22-year-old Suh’s blood-alcohol content at 0.035 percent. The legal limit for drivers in Nebraska is 0.08 percent.

Pelini said Sunday the accident won’t affect Suh's playing status.

In March of 2008, Pelini said his team had a zero-tolerance policy regarding alcohol use.

“The zero tolerance is obviously for drunkenness, that type of thing,” Pelini said Tuesday. “He was far from drunk. I know exactly where he was and what he did that night. This doesn't really fall into that category. I deal with those situations kind of on a case-by-case basis. If somebody’s drunk and gets into trouble, they’re going to have an issue. That wasn’t the case here.”

However, Pelini said, Suh will be disciplined internally because he was ticketed.

“What I told him was, I understand why he was up that late, but that’s probably the thing I was most disappointed in,” the coach said. “Any time you’re up that hour of the night — I understand why he was — you leave yourself at that hour for things to happen.”

Pelini said Suh, in the hours before the accident, was at someone’s residence, had dinner and fell asleep. “He got up and was going to his house downtown,” the coach said.

Pelini began his media session by immediately addressing the Suh situation, without being asked, “because I want him to be able to concentrate on football.”

“I told him not to field any questions about it,” the coach said.

Pelini discusses Ndamukong Suh's accident