Adelaide Crows players Brad Crouch and Tyson Stengle allegedly caught with drugs
SA Police say officers monitoring live CCTV in the CBD led to the dramatic drug bust involving Crows stars Brad Crouch and Tyson Stengle in the early hours of Monday morning. It comes as the club goes public with its disappointment.
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Live-monitored CCTV in Adelaide’s CBD captured Adelaide star Brad Crouch and young gun Tyson Stengle acting suspiciously before being busted with drugs, the state’s top cop has revealed.
The Crows pair were pulled over by police in a taxi on Grenfell Street just after 5am on Monday before being found with an illicit substance alleged to be cocaine.
The club has been unable to explain why Crouch, 26, and Stengle, 21, were pulled over by police in the taxi.
But the incident, which has threatened their futures at the club and placed Crouch’s contract talks in jeopardy, came after the pair were captured on SA Police’s extensive security camera network.
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“The circumstances that led to their being dealt with by police were captured on CCTV,” said Police Commissioner Grant Stevens.
The pair will not be charged by police but will face counselling and a club sanction after they were stopped a week after their season ended.
They were said to be receiving drugs. Anyone caught dealing is automatically charged.
Speaking at the Police Academy, at Fort Largs, on Police Remembrance Day, Mr Stevens declined to comment on the case’s specifics or what substance they were caught with.
Calling for private clubs and hotels to boost their security network, he said the message was that the police were watching and the “chances are you’ll be caught”. The CCTV network is monitored around the clock.
“I can say we have an extensive CCTV network right across the CBD,” he said on Tuesday.
“They are an excellent tool for detection and it enables us to position policing in the right place to prevent crime and to also to respond quickly when we see crimes being committed.
“So my warning is if you think you can get away with criminal acts in the CBD we will make that much harder as a result of CCTV.”
He said the small amount of substances they were caught with meant the drug diversion program, in which users are given counselling, was appropriate.
The laws were reviewed in 2018 and an unlimited amount of chances was reduced. Users have two referrals in four years before being charged.
Under state law, failure to comply or participate appropriately will also result in a prosecution, he said.
Commissioner Grant Stevens confirms live monitored city cctv led police to Crows stars Tyson Stengle and Brad Crouch, busted with small quantity of drugs early yesterday morning; “the message is police are watching and the chances are you’ll be caught†pic.twitter.com/6c6O51Dcf5
— Gerda Jezuchowski (@gerdajez) September 29, 2020
Asked if this sent the wrong community message, he replied: “You may look it at from that perspective but the other perspective people who are taking drugs should be afford the opportunity to seek treatment to prevent that particular problem from escalating.
“History shows us that dealing with people who are using illicit drugs straight in the criminal context straight from the outset doesn’t produce the sorts of results we are looking for.
“We are taking a harm-minimisation approach and that is what the diversion initiative is established to do.”
The club has been unable to explain why Crouch, 26, and Stengle, 21, were pulled over by police in the taxi.
Speaking outside Adelaide’s West Lakes headquarters on Tuesday, Crows chief executive Andrew Fagan said he did not “want to comment on aspects at the moment” until their investigation had been completed.
“(We are) still continuing with our investigations to understand how the players found themselves in that situation that will still carry out through today, in doing that we will talk not just to the players but to the AFLPA and the AFL,” he said.
“It’s a bit hard, we made a fair bit of progress yesterday but we want to do things thoroughly and clearly understand each element of it and the circumstances that impacted each player individually.
“It will take as long as it takes, that’s a process that is well underway.”
Fagan said the club would treat Crouch and Stengle’s situations differently and he hoped the two would learn from whatever sanction comes their way as a result.
“We just want to clearly understand how they got in this situation and make our decisions in response to the fullness of the information,” he said.
It is the second time Stengle has been involved with police this year after he was charged with drink driving in April and is due to face court in October.
Adelaide football manager Adam Kelly would not reveal what drug the players were allegedly found with or whether they had used it, saying they had a right to a degree of privacy.
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“They were in a taxi and police obviously had a reason to pull them over, I’m not aware of what the reason was, but when they were pulled over they were found to be in possession of an illicit drug,” Kelly said.
“They are still two members of the community who are entitled to some privacy around the matter and it’s not for us to disclose (what drug they were found with). Put simply it’s an illicit drug, it’s illegal and not meeting community standards and the standards of the football club.
“I’m not aware of what state they were in at the time ... as you can imagine they are embarrassed and disappointed, they feel like they’ve let the club down, their teammates down, our members and supporters which they have.
“I’m not going to adopt a position without the input of the club leaders but what I can say is they share the same levels of disappointment ... it’s fair to say on what happened earlier this year and the last 24 hours, a club sanction would appear to be inevitable.
“We know it’s a societal issue but they should be held to a higher standard being role models in society, that’s part of the game.”
Kelly said he was “gutted, disappointed and angry” with the pair’s actions but initial inquiries did not reveal that other players were involved with them at the time.
Free agent Crouch’s management was meant to be meeting with the Crows to discuss his contract on Monday afternoon but instead Kelly was holding a press conference where he said those talks had been put on hold.
“We need to work through these issues before we start talking about contracts,” Kelly said.
Stengle meanwhile faces an uncertain future despite signing a two-year deal with the club in August.
“Tyson has had a very disappointing six months so that will certainly factor into our decision making,” Kelly said.
“I’m not going to pre-empt what the club’s position is, we’re going to get to the bottom of the detail but it’s fairly obvious he hasn’t had a good six months and has made some really poor decisions.”
Crouch and Stengle are likely to be interviewed by the AFL’s integrity department about their conduct and News Corp understands under the current illicit drugs code they appear certain to be handed a strike by the AFL given that policy operates 12 months a year.
In a statement released on behalf of the players by their management group W Sports & Media, Crouch and Stengle said they would “unconditionally accept responsibility” for what had happened.
“We accept that our error of judgment is not in-line with community expectations nor the high standards we set for ourselves,” the statement read.
“In this regard, we are committed to the counselling process that SA Police has implemented to manage this and will continue to co-operate with our club as required.
“We will be making no further comments until any club process is concluded.”
In 2015 Jake Carlisle was handed a drug strike for snorting white powder in the off-season, only days into his time at the St Kilda football club.
Carlisle’s punishment was that strike as well as education and target-testing for the seasons to come.
But while it was reported he “accepted” the strike, it is understood the AFL would hand strikes to players instead of asking them to voluntarily accept them.
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Originally published as Adelaide Crows players Brad Crouch and Tyson Stengle allegedly caught with drugs