Pittsburgh Pirates News: Oneil Cruz Facing Charges in the Dominican Republic
Following a Monday night car accident that killed three people, Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Oneil Cruz is facing charges in his native Dominican Republic
Early in the morning on Tuesday, news broke that quickly caught the attention of fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates. This news was that one of the team’s top prospects, shortstop Oneil Cruz, had been involved in a car accident on Monday night in his native Dominican Republic.
Normally, news of a car accident would not be major news. However, this accident involved the death of three individuals riding a motorcycle, and, reportedly, Cruz was the person at the wheel of the vehicle that had struck the motorcycle.
Throughout the day there were conflicting reports on what had happened. This including conflicting reports on if Cruz was even actually involved in the accident. Even Cruz’s agent took to Twitter to call the accusations false. It should be noted that this Tweet has since been deleted.
Well, unfortuantely, it appears that Cruz was indeed involved in the incident. It is also being reported that Cruz is now facing charges for his involvement in the accident.
Tuesday evening, prosecutors confirmed to ESPN that Cruz is facing charges of driving under the influence. He was always in violation of the country’s current COVID-19 curfew. If Cruz is void guilty of the driving under the influence charges, he could face up to five years in prison.
Entering the season Cruz was a ocnsensus top-100 prospect in baseball. One of the top prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates system, Cruz spent the season at the alternate training site in Altoona. Moving forward, Cruz was expected to play a major role for the Pirates. There was potential for him to reach the Majors at some point in 2021.
At this time we want to keep the family of those who passed away in this unfortunate accident in our thoughts. Now it is time to let the legal system play out and find out what the future holds for Cruz. But it goes without saying that rather or not that future includes baseball is certainly in doubt.