Damontre Harris arrested for failure to appear

[Ahab]

Florida basketball player Damontre Harris was arrested early Wednesday morning for failure to appear at an arraignment on Aug. 16.

Harris, a 6-foot-10 junior transfer from South Carolina, was cited July 16 for driving without a valid license, a second-degree misdemeanor, according to court records.


http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20130220/ARTICLES/130229975/1136?Title=UF-basketball-player-arrested

[grant1]

I cannot fathom why these kids can't remember/desregard court dates or why we don't have the staff to remind them./nsure they attend court.

Also, why is it so difficult not to maintain a valid license or stop driving without one.

[gator7_5]

Damn, is it that hard to keep a valid license? I swear half of the kids playing football and basketball in the NCAA are driving dirty.

[GatorPlanet]

Makes you wonder if he thought the court date was really only a suggestion.

I don't understand why a kid would let a somewhat unfortunate situation (the drivers license) turn into a bad situation (arrest for failing to appear). So easy to avoid making it worse.

[wingtee]

Makes you wonder if he thought the court date was really only a suggestion.

I don't understand why a kid would let a somewhat unfortunate situation (the drivers license) turn into a bad situation (arrest for failing to appear). So easy to avoid making it worse.
Well said. It's just not that tough.. As long as he can rebound and be a tough guy I will forgive.:angry:

[HayGator]

When did he transfer? Was he scheduled to appear in SC or G-ville?

[SwampFox]

When did he transfer? Was he scheduled to appear in SC or G-ville?

for failure to know the answer to the first question on NBN, you will NOT get the answer to the second either...

:whoa:

[HALLGATOR]

I think they need to give classes on how to keep from losing your license once you get one.

[GatorPlanet]

BD must have done a facepalm when he got this news.

[gymgator]

Step 1) Get a traffic ticket...for anything...we all have got them...
Step 2) Ignore it, can't/never pay the fine, attend driving class, etc
Step 3) Get your license suspended for #2
Step 4) Ignore the notice from #3 and decide that you will never get pulled over again.
Step 5) Find out you were wrong about #4 and get pulled over again.
Step 6) Get cited for driving without a valid license and have to appear in court
Step 7) Don't appear = warrant = arrested = Billy D face palm

This should be training 101 for college athletes as it is an all too common process.

[iam4uf]

Step 1) Get a traffic ticket...for anything...we all have got them...
Step 2) Ignore it, can't/never pay the fine, attend driving class, etc
Step 3) Get your license suspended for #2

While at UF I reached step #3 , some misunderstanding from what I recall & it took awhile to straighten things out. If I had a car at the time & had been stopped, I assume I would've been arrested. So... I guess I'm not throwing stones at a kid for the first offense.

[maxgator]

I would say this is fairly typical college student behavior.

[madgator]

I would say this is fairly typical college student behavior.

I would say that during my college years my drivers license was just as much suspended as it was active.

between unpaid tickets and never once owning a UF parking pass.....ummmm yeah. I got off cheap in the end....


What REALLY is ridiculous though is that the cops actually came to pick him up at his dorm. this is a clear case of targeting athletes.

in my younger years, I had been summonsed for a court date relating to a traffic misdemeanor, missed the court date and received a warrant in the mail. No cop came to my door. I just turned myself in, paid the fine, and went on my way. This is pure crap of convenience by the GPD!

[maxgator]

I would say that during my college years my drivers license was just as much suspended as it was active.

between unpaid tickets and never once owning a UF parking pass.....ummmm yeah. I got off cheap in the end....

What REALLY is ridiculous though is that the cops actually came to pick him up at his dorm. this is a clear case of targeting athletes.

in my younger years, I have been summonsed for a court date relating to traffic court, missed the court date and received a warrant in the mail. No cop came to my door. I just turned myself in, paid the fine, and went on my way. This is pure crap of convenience by the GDP!

You are absolutely correct.

[phideltdj]

Could it be they can't afford the car insurance...I think they will suspend your license as well if you cancel the insurance.

[gatordd]

our judicial system is so gross

[born2beagator]

Well this is annoying

[GatorLurker]

I had my DL suspended once. Weird coincidence of events. I had moved and showed up at the DMV to have my address changed on the DL. At that point they took my DL away and said that I had a suspended DL for failure to have insurance on a truck. It turned out that the VIN of record and the VIN on the insurance didn't exactly match. It was one of those "1" vs "l" things. I had to call my wife who called our insurance agent who wrote a letter (notarized) explaining that I actually did have insurance on the vehicle without lapse. The reason I didn't know about this was that the letter from the DMV was sent to my old address and it hadn't been forwarded.

[gator7_5]

I would say this is fairly typical college student behavior.

I guess. There may have been a few, but I don't know anyone who was driving with a suspended license while I attended UF.

Of course, I didn't hang out with a lot of Div 1 scholarship athletes.

[nastyreptile]

I would say this is fairly typical college student behavior.


Hmmmmm, let's see....We now have to assume that nobody on these teams: Swimming, Golf, Tennis, Lacross, Soccer, etc, etc even has a car since we never hear of any of them getting stopped for a suspended license and then failing to show up in Court..:huh:

[maxgator]

I guess. There may have been a few, but I don't know anyone who was driving with a suspended license while I attended UF.

Of course, I didn't hang out with a lot of Div 1 scholarship athletes.

Good lord, I knew of plenty.

[maxgator]

Hmmmmm, let's see....We now have to assume that nobody on these teams: Swimming, Golf, Tennis, Lacross, Soccer, etc, etc even has a car since we never hear of any of them getting stopped for a suspended license and then failing to show up in Court..:huh:

:huh::huh: I have no clue what you are talking about.

[tilly]

True story:

Last year I got a speeding ticket.

-Went to court on my date.
-Took the driving school option to save insurance points.
- Went to driving school. Got all of the paperwork.

6 months later I was pulled over and was told I was driving with a revoked license. Fortunately I kept the paperwork in my glove box and presented the paperwork to the officer, who let me off...but told me that I was In danger of arrest and made me leave my car on the Interstate...all because the driving school director didn't file the paperwork. Consequently, I was deamed with failure to appear. Took days to fix even though I did appear in court on my date and even though I did go to driving school.

The point is, this is how minor this could be.

Clarical errors can lead to these things.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tablet using Gator Country

[grant1]

I've been pulled over 4 times (3 tickets) in 37 years. Keeping ones DL is easy.

[gatormoe1]

Been there, done that.. got the Tshirt.

[REM08]

I've driven for 16 years, been pulled over twice with zero tickets. I also know people who seem much more prone to issues with a license.

I doubt this case was because of some crazy confluence of events (although I believe those happen too as in tilly's case) and think this is more likely a case of a teenager succumbing to that feeling of invincibility. Taking care of issues like these seem obvious to most of us, but I doubt they're at the top of the priority list of the typical college athlete.

[patsyruth2008]

Guys, perhaps there is another explanation. The story said he did not have a "valid" drivers license, not that it was suspended. Harris was going to school in South Carolina so he could have easily had a SC drivers license. When you change residency to a new state you must get that state's drivers license within 90 days (I think). Could it be that
when the cop pulled Demontre over he had a SC license and had been a resident of Florida for over the 90 day time frame so he was ticketed.

I have no idea if that is what happened, but if it did then I know I would have been pretty pissed at the arresting officer and probably would have said something like "screw you, come find me with this valid license crap" and blown off the court date. Food for thought I guess...............

[DoctorGator]

:huh::huh: I have no clue what you are talking about.

Sure you do. You just can't pass up an opportunity to bash the cops, and that is ALL I ever see you posting about. Its always the same small cadre.

I know exactly what he was talking about and was thinking the same thing.

[ufgator4ever]

I've been pulled over 6 times in 25 yrs. 3 tickets. Two of which I attribute to being a gator: speeding in a 20mph drop speed trap zone in wildwood at 2am, told officer I was driving back to gainesville, and he litterally said thats too bad, I'm a seminole fan. And then in south carolina where, where the cop mentioned as he filled out a ticket, you know we don't like gators up here, referncing my plate frame.

[cudigator]

Hmmmmm, let's see....We now have to assume that nobody on these teams: Swimming, Golf, Tennis, Lacross, Soccer, etc, etc even has a car since we never hear of any of them getting stopped for a suspended license and then failing to show up in Court..:huh:

We barely hear about those students regardless of the situation. Fact of college athletics.