November 1992, Miami
Intoxicated, Hector Camacho
was standing in the lobby of the Miami Airport Hilton yelling “I am the macho
man.” When confronted by two police officers, the former lightweight champion was
holding a small bag of marijuana. Determined to avoid the weed bust, Camacho
had a plan: he ran.
It was a good plan, it went
something like this: after a decade of yelling at the top of his lungs, 'look
at me, I am the macho man,' Hector’s plan was to escape, blend in unnoticed
with the locals, and avoid the police for the next 40 years by living quietly. – OK, maybe that wasn't actually Camacho’s plan, but
he did run, so I figure he had to have had some plan. (BTW he was wearing a T-shirt
with "Macho Man" written across the front, just in case the police didn't know
who they were chasing.)
Whatever Camacho’s plan
actually was, like so many other 'good plans,' it went awry; once cornered
Camacho refused to surrender and had to be subdued. During the arrest one of the police officers suffered a knee injury and the other had to be treated for
cuts. The officers kept falling down while trying to grab the elusive Camacho. Charges against Camacho were upgraded from possession, to resisting arrest and battery on a
police officer.
In attempting to mitigate the
Macho Man’s behavior, Camacho’s lawyer (obviously not a fight fan) offered to
the media the following explanation: "You need to understand, his business
involves using your hands, and he likes to bounce around a lot."
Rest in Peace Hector, you are missed.
