ESPN broadcasters Scott Van Pelt, Pat McAfee, and Ryan Clark have walked back their agreement with fellow broadcaster Ryan Clark that LSU football player Kyren Lacy may have been innocent of causing a fatal car crash in December of 2024.
Despite initially agreeing with Clark that Lacy appeared to be innocent, the pair are now pulling back and saying they should have looked at all the evidence in the case before speaking out.
Lacy was charged in January over the death of a 78-year-old Marine veteran, Herman Hall, in a car accident in Louisiana the month before. Prosecutors alleged that Lacy’s reckless driving in the wrong lane caused the victim to panic and smash his vehicle into another to avoid a head-on collision with Lacy.
The player committed suicide in April after discharging a gun at family members, then leading police on a high-speed chase. Police ultimately found the player in his car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
But the controversy of the car accident issue has not subsided. This month, Lacy’s lawyer gave an interview in which he showed a partial video of the 2024 car crash that the lawyer said proved Lacy was not the cause of the accident that took the 78-year-old victim’s life.
After the lawyer released his evidence, ESPN broadcaster Ryan Clark went on SportsCenter to assert straight out that Lacy was innocent.
“Kyren Lacy was supposed to be in the NFL. He was accused of something he didn’t do — and died carrying the guilt and consequences of a guilty man, knowing he was innocent,” Clark said on SportsCenter as Van Pelt heartily agreed.
“It was later discovered he was 72 yards away from the crash, and that police tried to coerce and manipulate statements that would’ve put this young man behind bars,” Clark added before saying that Lacy was “innocent.”
But the Louisiana State Police released a video of their own showing the entirety of the accident video that seemed to show that Lacy’s reckless driving absolutely was the cause of the fatal accident.
With the police video released, both Van Pelt and McAfee have walked back their assertions of Lacy’s innocence.
On Wednesday, Van Pelt said, “Late last week, the attorney for former LSU football player Kyren Lacy released a video challenging the version of events that Louisiana State Police used to cite Lacy in a December auto accident, which claimed the life of 78-year-old Herman Hall.”
He continued, saying, “On Tuesday, State Police released video and records defending their initial findings, which alleged that Lacy’s operation of his vehicle created the chain of events that resulted in the crash that claimed Hall’s life. Lacy’s car is seen traveling at a high rate of speed in the wrong lane just prior to the incident.”
And he then apologized for jumping to conclusions, saying, “The one certainty here is that this was a senseless tragedy in December, magnified by a second life lost in April. I apologize for the incomplete reaction that aired on this show Monday night.”
McAfee also apologized for speaking before all the evidence was in.
“We thought we had more context. Now, more video has been made publicly available, and it shows even more context. It shows Kyren Lacy driving on the wrong side of the road and could have easily made the case that he caused the car to swerve and the tragic accident. We apologize for adding any more heat. We will continue to stay on top of the news breaking and this story. This is tragically sad and involves an athlete’s legacy.” McAfee said on Tuesday.
In the end, Ryan Clark also followed up with an apology for jumping the gun and assuming that Lacy was wholly innocent of the accusations police and prosecutors filed against him.
“I knew Kyren Lacy personally…it’s always important to me that I gather all factual and important information to provide the complete story…and when discussed in real time on Monday evening, I failed to do so. And for that, I apologize,” he said on Thursday.
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