Back in June, Oregon cornerback Cliff Harris got himself into a little bit of a legal pickle when police pulled over Harris after he was reportedly clocked doing a startling 118 mph. On a suspended license. In a rental car paid for by a university employee.
Harris was consequently suspended for, at the very least, the Ducks’ opener against LSU, but some video footage from the incident courtesy of KVAL in Eugene shows a lengthy stop with lots of eyebrow-raising moments.
(For a full breakdown of the event, click HERE; some of the things said are pretty wild)
According to the tape, the officer who made the stop asked Harris within the first few moments “Who’s got the marijuana in the car?”, to which Harris responds “we smoked it all.”
Among the passengers in the car is Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas, who the officer recognizes after learning his name.
“You’re Darron Thomas?” the trooper asks. “Yep,” Thomas replies. “Yes you are,” the trooper responds.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t Thomas’ first traffic incident in which he was a passenger; Thomas really needs to hitch rides with a better crowd.
“Why you guys smoking dope and driving down the road at 118 miles an hour?” the trooper then asks.
“We’re just trying to get home,” is the reply, although it’s not clear who says it.
“How do you think [Coach] Kelly would like it if I called him?” the trooper asks. Someone in the car says “everybody in the car is not smoking dope.”
“How do you think he’d like it if I called and told him you guys are doing 118 miles an hour down the freeway – the star football players on the team?” the trooper asks again.
“No sir, he wouldn’t appreciate it,” is the response, but it’s not clear from whom. The trooper then asks how he thinks other drivers might feel being put at risk by the high-speed driving.
“Who’s been smoking dope?” the trooper asks without waiting for an answer to the previous question. The response, although it’s not clear from whom, blames the passengers in the back seat for smoking pot.
The stop goes on for nearly an hour, with another officer eventually joining the scene. The two officers joke about pulling over the Oregon players and one asks to see Harris’ Pac-10 championship ring* during a sobriety test.
(Note*: jokes about selling said ring can be made in the comments section below)
“You guys are a pretty important part of the program down there,” the trooper tells them four men in the car. “You want to stay alive and be able to help your teammates out, stay in school and finish school and get on with your life, huh? Driving 118 miles an hour is not the best way to do that.”
The story is a pretty interesting read and well worth a few minutes. If you have even more time -- and judging by some of the comments on here, I’m guessing some of you do -- here’s the video of the incident below.
UPDATED 7:34 p.m. ET: Head coach Chip Kelly had this to say about Thomas’, er, “involvement” with the incident:
“I’m not gonna punish someone for being a passenger...I know exactly what the situation was and I’m not concerned with Darron Thomas whatsoever.”