Azimut Modena‘s Earvin Ngapeth caught himself in a bit of trouble recently as he was pulled over by police and was determined to have a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit in Italy. Ngapeth’s blood alcohol content was determined to be 1.98 with is well above the legal limit of 0.50 that is allowed in the country. Ngapeth was pulled over in the outskirts of Modena, where he plays professionally, last Wednesday evening.
Ngapeth’s license and car were immediately seized by police following the incident. A Modena employee recovered the car the following morning from a tow truck depo.
It was reported that Ngapeth was alone in his car at the time of the traffic stop and was returning home from a night out with his Modena teammates. It is said that Ngapeth, along with the five players that went out that night, is likely to be fined following the incident. The La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Ngapeth is still under wraps from an incident that took place two years ago, where he was involved in a car accident that injured three people. The hearing for this will take place on March 28.
The incident took place just days before the team played Diatec Trentino, who has struggled this season but are usually a strong fixture in the Italian Men’s League. The incident did not stop Ngapeth from making a huge impact for Modena with 21 points, but his performance was not enough to keep the team afloat in the match, as they fell to Trentino in a tough five-setter.
Modena recently commented on the incident, “Modena Volley recognizes their responsibility for the events that occurred. Without entering into dynamics of the story, the club publicly disapproves of any attitude not suited to the values that it declares and will, without hesitation, apply its own code of ethics.”
The team’s setter Bruno Rezende also made a comment about Ngapeth’s case:
“Right now, there’s nothing to be added because we’re talking about a person’s private life. We must think exclusively about what we have to do on the floor. What bothers us the most is the fact that we lost an important match on Sunday.”
Ngapeth has been Modena’s go-to player this season on the front line, consistently producing big numbers for the club. Over the summer, Ngapeth was the highlight of the French Men’s National Team as they won the 2017 FIVB World League over Brazil in a gritty five-set match where Ngapeth took home the MVP honors.
In the Italian Men’s League, Azimut Modena sits in third place overall with 24 points, sitting behind Cucine Lube Civitanova and Sir Safety Conad Perugia. The team is preparing for a home match against Bunge Ravenna on December 10.
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