WTVD continues to provide excellent coverage to the ever-multiplying UNC-CH football scandals. This story raises many questions about about the way UNC-CH police (and specifically Butch’s game day police officer) handled a vehicle crash investigation involving football players. Here is a pdf of the actual accident report. Some excerpts from the article:
The ABC11 I-Team is examining information about an on-campus vehicle crash that involved football players and a UNC police officer, who served as the game day officer for former head football coach Butch Davis.
and
UNC players Carl Gaskins, Jr., Dion Guy and Ebele Okakpu were passengers in the car Davidson was driving.
The crash caused $18,000 in damage to the car Davidson was driving, which belonged to Okakpu’s father.
The police report also indicates Davidson had alcohol on his breath but was not impaired. The report doesn’t say whether the other players had been drinking.
The initial report said the car was traveling the speed limit at the time of the crash; but nearly 16 hours later, the report was later changed to say the car was going 45 mph in a 25 mph zone.
Sgt. Smith wrote in the report, “I changed the travel and impact speed of the collision from 25 to 45 based on the severity of the collision and other factors combined. To have an incident of this magnitude, the vehicle had to have been traveling higher than the posted speed of 25 mph.”
Davidson only received a citation for not having a valid driver’s license. He was not issued a speeding ticket and none of the players were taken into custody.
and
UNC says Smith resigned on July 15th, six weeks after the crash, but won’t say if the crash led to his resignation.
Smith denies a cover-up, but when asked about his resignation, he told the I-Team it was a “self-inflicted wound” and a “hard lesson learned.”
The former officer claims on his twitter page (@Tar_Heel_Smitty) to be “the BIGGEST Tar Heel fan in existence!”
He said, “I let my love for UNC interfere with real life and I paid the price.”
Smith believes he lost his job because of what he called a “message board and a few athletes.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.