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On Sunday, we talked about Vikings cornerback Chris Cook being arrested in Virginia for “brandishing a handgun during a fight.”

Curiously, Cook has taken to the media in an attempt tell his version of the story, a strategy that makes only a small amount of sense considering he would like to tell the Vikings what happened but cannot communicate with the team under lockout rules.

I noted very early Monday morning that I found some of Cook’s quotes interesting from an interview with Chip Scoggins of Access Vikings.  In that interview, Cook denied pointing “the gun” at the other man.  By using those words instead of “a gun” it can be assumed that Cook was carrying a firearm, which he recently received a permit for, when the event happened.  If the accuser is able to describe the gun with any detail, then it is obvious that Cook did not keep it concealed prior to, during, or after the altercation.

Cook also spoke with Jeremy Fowler of the Pioneer Press and I found it interesting that the story varied in certain spots from that put forth by Scoggins.

First of all, in Scoggins’ report Cook claims that the neighbor with whom he argued accused him of calling the police on his brother.  Cook said, “Why would I do that?”  In Fowler’s report, however, Cook’s story is that the neighbor thought one of Cook’s family members called the police.

In Scoggins’ report, Cook claims that the neighbor “went downtown and told [the police] I pointed the gun at him.”  In Fowler’s article, however, Cook said his neighbor lied to the police about a threat to use a gun.

There is a difference between pulling a gun on someone and threatening to use a gun on someone, so it appears as if Cook may not even be sure which one he was accused of.

Cook has not outright denied that he was carrying a gun during this episode and went out of his way to note that his newly acquired license gives him, “the right to carry my gun anywhere I want to.”  (Hopefully he realizes that isn’t entirely true and he should avoid carrying on airplanes, in schools, or to the courthouse he will surely have to be visiting soon.)

While Cook doesn’t deny carrying at the time he did say, “There was no gun involved at all.”

I have to admit that Cook’s somewhat different sounding stories make me skeptical as to his degree of innocence.  The silver lining here is that Cook didn’t go all Everson Griffen on the police (you know, running and then grabbing their crotch) and the officers described him as “completely cooperative.”  Of course, the best news surrounding this incident is that nobody got hurt.

It is interesting that both Cook and Capt. Ryan Zuidema noted a quirk in Virginia law that essentially allows for a citizen to swear out a criminal warrant against another citizen without much trouble.

“Virginia works a little bit different than a lot of states in that private citizens in Virginia can go in front of a magistrate and actually swear out a criminal warrant against another citizen and in essence that’s what happened in this situation,” Zuidema said. “Basically the information that we know is there was some type of verbal argument between Mr. Cook and this other gentleman and that gentleman went in front of a magistrate here and swore out an arrest warrant against Mr. Cook, which our officers then served on Mr. Cook.”

“Some states you’re arrested basically on suspicion of something and then a D.A. will determine if there’s enough to formally charge them,” he said. “In Virginia, when you’re arrested you’re actually charged. He has been charged with brandishing a firearm. Obviously the Commonwealth attorney will still review the case. But he will have a court date that he’ll go to either way and they’ll make a determination by the attorneys.”

At the time that the warrant was sworn out, Cook was instantaneously charged with brandishing a firearm.  One consistency in Cook’s interviews with Scoggins and Fowler were that he claimed he didn’t know if he would be charged with anything, but unfortunately that isn’t consistent with Zuidema’s statement that Cook had already been charged and is likely to eventually appear in court.

“That’s the thing about Virginia, I could say something right now about somebody and they (the police) would go after them,” Cook said.  “That’s what makes it a he-said, she-said situation right now.”

It is true that right now this appears to be a situation relying on people giving their honest accounts of what actually happened. 

Unfortunately for Cook, he has already put forth enough inconsistencies in his stories that a hack blogger that would definitely prefer he is innocent can’t help but wonder if he is trying to pull one over here.

We will be sure to keep you updated as this story progresses.