Humphrey suspended again for latest arrest
view
By Roger Clarkson |
roger.clarkson@onlineathen.com | Story updated at 11:38 PM on Thursday, February 7, 2008
Billy Humphrey's bumpy season hit another pothole. But Humphrey expressed more indignation than remorse after his second close encounter with the law since November.
Humphrey, 20, was arrested by Athens-Clarke County police early Thursday morning for underage possession of alcohol and failure to obey a pedestrian traffic control device. Humphrey was arrested for a felony weapons violation on school property when a butterfly knife was found in his dormitory room in November.
On Thursday afternoon he was suspended for at least of three games by the Georgia Athletic Association because of the alcohol arrest. He will miss Saturday's game at Florida and next week's games against South Carolina and Tennessee. Humphrey has also been slowed by a painful runner's knee condition since the beginning of January. Before Thursday's arrest, Humphrey said he had already decided to take himself out of the rotation at least for the time being because of the knee.
"It's unfortunate, really," Humphrey said after Thursday night's practice. "Of course I feel bad and everything. But like I told my trainer last night after the game, that was going to be my last game for at least a while. Now that whole situation happened and I have to sit out for school policy reasons. So I'm up and down about it. I hate it that I've put the team and my coaches through all that, so I apologize for that."
According to a police report obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday morning, Humphrey was stopped after walking in front of a patrol car in front of Tasty World at the corner of East Broad and Jackson at about 1:23 a.m. Humphrey admitted to drinking at his apartment and tested positive for alcohol after blowing a .03. The report did not say whether found alcohol found on Humphrey anywhere except his breath. He was checked into jail at 2:12 a.m. and bonded out at 3:45 a.m.
"I felt like I was making a good decision," Humphrey said. "I wasn't drinking downtown. I had a beer before I left the house and I decided that I wasn't going to drink that night and I was just going to shoot pool. I blew an .02 or .03 and I got a ticket for jaywalking which everybody does in downtown Athens so it's ridiculous. It is the law, I guess. But I feel like some discretion should be used when there's no traffic."
Humphrey is a junior guard from Dacula and the team's second leading scorer at 13.2 points a game. He missed Monday's practice because of the flu. He played 28 minutes and scored eight points in Georgia's 67-59 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday. The knee injury has slowed Humphrey the last two weeks. He has not led the team in scoring in the last four games.
"As far as me personally and the whole suspension thing, I wasn't planning on playing the next few games anyway," Humphrey said. "I was going to see what my knee is going to do. I don't feel like the cortisone shots have worked as effectively as I thought it was going to do. It was obvious that last night was going to be my last game for a while so I already had rest set in my mind."
MULTIMEDIA PDF: Read a copy of the incident report involving Humphrey's arrest:
View document (193k)
Humphrey has been a starter all season and is one of the oldest players on the team on a team that has five freshmen on its current 11-man roster.
"If I live by whatever, then yeah, I feel bad that it happened," Humphrey said. "But the fact of the matter is, I wasn't going to play the next few games anyway. Of course it is unfortunate and I apologize for what happened. But my knee is hurt. I feel like everything happens for a reason and it's unfortunate and I didn't mean for it to happen. I feel like it was petty to a certain extent. But the law is what it is."
Humphrey's mixed reaction on Thursday contrasted sharply with that of Georgia coach Dennis Felton. He voiced serious concern over the arrest and promised an even more vigorous substance abuse education push than already exists in the program.
"I was obviously alarmed and disappointed," Felton said before Thursday evening's practice. "It's an issue that needs to be dealt with. I'm disappointed that a player in our program makes himself vulnerable to any kind of trouble. I can't think of many more ways to be more proactive than we area about educating our guys. We take a very aggressive stance to stay ahead of our guys about educating and reminding them."
The Georgia athletic association accesses a mandatory suspension for 10 percent of a student-athlete's competition when a student-athlete receives a legal citation for any alcohol violation.
"Clearly Billy wasn't whooping it up and having a grand old time with a .03," Felton said. "I've been advised by people who've had experience in this sort of thing is that equals about one beer. But it is what it is. He had alcohol in his system and he is under age. We don't want that to happen at all."
In November, Humphrey was arrested for a felony weapons violation when a butterfly knife was found in his dorm room. University of Georgia police had received a tip that marijuana might be present in the dorm room Humphrey and then-teammate Mike Mercer shared. The police found no drugs but found a butterfly knife in a jacket belonging to Humphrey. Mercer was later dismissed from the team for being a disruption. He transferred to South Florida during the semester break. Humphrey served a one-game suspension against Grambling State the day after the arrest.
Humphrey received a pre-trial diversion for the weapons arrest that required 80 hours of community service and stipulated that he stay out of trouble the next 18 months. He was also placed on probation by the University of Georgia judiciary council. Felton said that he does not expect any change in Humphrey's punishment from the university judiciary council. Humphrey gave the same assessment and said that that the university probation was specific to the weapon's policy. Humphrey also said that he had been reassured by his attorney that the non-university legal issue will not be drastically affected.
According to Thursday's arrest report, an officer had to stop his patrol car for Humphrey who walked into East Broad Street after failing to obey a pedestrian traffic control device at about 1:23 a.m. When the officer asked Humphrey why he failed to stop for the pedestrian traffic control device, the report said that Humphrey responded "Pedestrian traffic what!"
The investigating officer reported that he "smelled a very strong odor of alcoholic beverage on the offender's breath" and Humphrey was observed leaving the Tasty World.
The officer asked Humphrey how much he had to drink and Humphrey responded "some", according to the report. Since Humphrey's identification indicated he was under age 21, the officer asked how he got into Tasty World. Humphrey said he had been drinking at his apartment before going downtown. Humphrey said he did not drink at Tasty World and only played pool with a friend, the report said.
The officer administered a portable alcohol sensor test, Humphrey blew a .03 and he was arrested. A search turned up an identification card for another person in a leather wallet belonging to Humphrey. He told the officer that the identification belonged to his cousin and the identification was placed in evidence. Humphrey was not charged for anything concerning the second identification.
lol:
