Judge in ‘Pac’ case made the right decision

Tommy Urbanski will very likely never walk again.

For the rest of his days, the former part-time pro wrestler ‘ a bear of a man who relied on his strength for much of his livelihood ‘ will have to rely on his wife and other caregivers for many of his basic, everyday needs.

Tommy, you see, was doing his job on the evening of Feb. 19, 2007, when shots rang out in front of his place of employment, the Minxx Gentleman’s Club in Las Vegas. He was struck multiple times in the left hand, arm and chest, with the final bullet severing his spinal cord and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Although the story happened thousands of miles from Tennessee, most sports fans in our state are very familiar with it, since it allegedly involves the Titans’ oft-troubled defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones.

The story of Urbanski’s injuries ‘ wounds that would likely have killed a normal-sized man, one could reason ‘ is recounted on a Web site dedicated to his tale, and Jones’ name is mentioned throughout.

Quoting the story, Jones ‘was restrained and ejected by club security for repeatedly and viciously assaulting a woman inside the club,’ and went on to make ‘direct death threats to club security personnel who had restrained him, stating they would be dead before the night was over.’

Just minutes after those alleged statements came the gunfire which would forever change the lives of Urbanski, his family, and another patron of the club who received less serious injuries.

Whether Jones, or some member of his entourage, pulled the trigger is still unknown. In fact, Jones’ involvement in the affair has yet to be determined in a court of law, so the rules of our justice system ‘ and the opening narration from ‘Cops’ ‘ instruct us to consider him innocent until proven otherwise.

But the tragedy that befell the Urbanski’s is not in doubt, nor is the fact that someone, somewhere, is to blame for his life-altering injuries.

But that someone is not the Tennessee Titans. And fortunately, this week a judge ruled that to be the case.

You see, Urbanski and his lawyer were following the American tradition of ‘sue ’em all, let the judge sort ’em out.’ It’s a somewhat modern tradition, in this age of freestyle litigation, but it’s a tradition nonetheless.

But District Court judge Jessie Walsh brought a little sense to the senseless tragedy that is the Jones-Urbanski saga this week, by ruling what everyone knew to be true in the first place: What an employee does on his own time isn’t his employer’s fault.

If I go to a nightclub Saturday and start a fight, I may get sued over it. But the Southern Standard didn’t send me there, so they’re not responsible.

And by the same token, it’s not the Tennessee Titans’ fault that Jones was in a club, acting like a fool. And if he’s a gun-toting, drive-by-ordering thug on his own time, then that’s his own problem.

Hopefully, someday, Urbanski will finally find some measure of justice for the assault that has left him paralyzed. And when that happens, if Jones is ruled to be at fault, it will be nobody’s problem but his own.