All Things Bubba

A strange and tragic story from Bubba's home town of Bellaire, Texas.

Son of baseballer shot by cop

(CNN) -- Robbie Tolan sits in a Houston, Texas, hospital bed with a bullet from a police officer's gun lodged in his liver. The son of a famed baseball player was shot in his own driveway.

But how this unarmed 23-year-old and his cousin ended up in the cross-hairs of an officer's gun, suspected of stealing a car, is a question sparking allegations of racial profiling.

Robbie Tolan played a little minor league baseball in the Nationals system, but didn't stick. He played most recently with an independent league team. He is the son of Bobby Tolan, a lefty outfielder who played for the Cincinnati Reds, among other teams.

He and his brother were coming back from a Jack In the Box run, when two police officers stopped them in their own driveway, and forced them to lie down on the ground, suspecting them of driving a stolen car.

The car was not stolen, and it's unclear why they thought it was. It was a Nissan Xterra - not a cheap car, but not so expensive you'd assume a person driving one had stolen it.

According to the article, the young man's mother heard the commotion, came out, and was shoved against the wall. Robbie tried to get up to defend her, and the officer shot him.

The officer who fired the gun is on administrative leave. Robbie will likely survive, but his baseball career may be over.

I guess I can understand the cop being quick on the trigger. They didn't know how many people were in the house, or if they were armed. But jeez, you can't expect a 23-year-old to just lie there when you're manhandling his mom.

I'm reminded of a guy I worked with on my first job in NYC. He grew up in a rough neighborhood, but had avoided drugs, gangs, and other pitfalls. He studied hard, got a degree and a good job, and seemed on his way to making something of himself. I sort of lost touch with him when I was transferred to a different department, and was shocked when I later heard that he was in jail. He was the last person in the world I would have expected to end up in jail. He had killed someone. Someone had attacked his mother, and he shot him.

It's rarely a good idea to mess with someone's mom.