Who do you root for?

Good luck trying to be sympathetic to either side in this civil suit being brought against Ndamukong Suh in Portland.

Suh was clearly a knucklehead for taking two women on a joy ride through the streets of Portland last December, losing control of his 1970 Chevy Coupe and sideswiping a light pole, drinking fountain and tree.

He compounded that by apparently trying to bully the women into covering up the severity of the crash and took it another step beyond absurd by offering the woman who was cut in the accident a card with $700 to stay quiet about it.

Seven hundred bucks was just a bit short of what the woman was looking for, obviously. Saadia Van Winkle is suing Sue for $1 million for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Yeah, I know — emotional distress. I wish I could sue somebody for emotional distress, like all these Lions players that had us calling lawyers and cops all spring and summer.

Litigation is the American remedy, though, isn’t it, especially when the defendant has money. Apparently, Van Winkle accrued more than $4,000 in medical bills from the accident, so she wants to get that paid and a whole lot more.

The lawsuit is predictable and galling, but what really bothered me was a quote from Van Winkle’s lawyer, Sarah Nelson, that appeared in the Free Press.

In one breath she was adamant that the lawsuit was not an attempt to exploit Suh’s fame. In the next, she said this:

“I think what we say to that is these high-profile athletes and celebrity types always think that they can get away with this kind of stuff and they’re never held accountable. She wants to hold him accountable and she’s taking the charges very seriously.”

Clearly if Suh were not one of those ‘high-profile athletes and celebrity types,’ this suit wouldn’t be filed.

It’s odious to me, but then, Suh’s actions were just as odious. Fine them both.