Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.
Billy Tibbetts is in trouble with the law again.
Oh, and it rained in Seattle, the Dodgers lost and "Pacman" Jones says he didn't do it.
Tibbetts is the former Wranglers hockey bad boy who during his brief Las Vegas stay made the Hanson Brothers of "Slapshot" infamy look like Up With People understudies.
This week he led state cops on a high - speed chase in Massachusetts and was charged with resisting arrest, leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, speeding and other traffic violations. It was the second time Tibbetts was arrested after such a chase in the past four months.
After pleading guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl at a party in 1994 (when he was 17) and having his probation revoked after he shot a man with a BB gun, Tibbetts served three years in jail. In 1994 he was convicted of threatening to kill a police officer and his family .
Tibbetts, 32, played 82 games in the National Hockey League but has kicked around the minors since 2003. During his brief stint in the ECHL, his name appeared in 13 columns I wrote.
After his recent "Smokey and the Bandit" routine, it seemed like a good time to relive Billy Tibbetts' greatest hits, most of which, unfortunately, fell way outside the rules:
Nov. 26, 2004: Tibbetts doesn't do interviews these days, unless it's with his parole officer. So I will be the first to admit I don't know him. Then again, given his past, which includes six arrests, I'm not sure I want to know him.
Dec. 21, 2004 (during the Wranglers' annual midnight game): Tough guy Tibbetts was on his best behavior Monday night - er, Tuesday morning - until one of the Falcons collided with Wranglers goalie Sebastien Centomo, who had ventured from his crease to play the puck somewhere north of Saskatoon. Although the Fresno player got far worse of the contact, Tibbetts told him a bedtime story about Goldilocks and a knuckle sandwich.
Dec. 29, 2004: Tibbetts received a 10-game suspension for a flagrant cross-check in his very first game with the Wranglers. Tibbetts' totals in eight games are zero goals, two assists and 86 penalty minutes.
March 15, 2005: Tibbetts claimed to have turned his life around. "Basically, I've got to surrender my life to God's will. I only need to concern myself with God's love and acceptance," Tibbetts told the Idaho Statesman Journal after signing with the Steel heads.
March 21, 2005: Tibbetts was released by the Idaho Steelheads on Saturday, a day after he was suspended indefinitely by the ECHL for trying to attack a referee.
March 23, 2005: Tibbetts, who has been suspended more times than Wilford Brimley's trousers, amassed 132 penalty minutes in 13 games for the Wranglers before they revoked his Get Out of the Penalty Box Free card.
April 6, 2005: Despite playing in only 35 games before he was banished from the ECHL on March 18, Billy Tibbetts still leads the league in penalty minutes with 320. Tibbetts briefly wreaked havoc in Las Vegas with the Wranglers before the club determined that installing barbed wire in the penalty box and building an exercise yard at the Orleans Arena would be cost prohibitive and released him.
One of these days, I fully expect to turn on one of those outdoor channels to learn that Billy Tibbetts and Oggie Oglethorpe are living in a cave somewhere in Tibet, listening to Cat Stevens records.
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