Well, technically it was a rental car, but you get the point.
But a point of emphasis that Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas wanted to make regarding his involvement in a June speeding incident with UO cornerback Cliff Harris was that, well, he was hardly involved at all.
Speaking to the media about the stop for the first time, Thomas says he was stranded in Portland on June 11 and looking for a ride to Eugene so he could catch a flight to ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn. the next day. What Thomas was doing in Portland wasn’t immediately explained.
“I got in the car, and he [Harris] wasn’t the driver or anything like that,” Thomas said. “He was in the car. I went to sleep and woke up with the police there.”
When asked if he had smoked any of the pot the police officer claimed to smell during the incident, Thomas said, “not at all.”
A video of the incident was released earlier this week showing an officer questioning Harris, Thomas and two other passengers for nearly an hour. It got bizarre at times; the officer asked to see Harris’ Pac-10 championship ring during a sobriety test, and when Thomas confirmed his identity, the officer replied “Yes, you are.”
Harris is currently serving an indefinite suspension for the incident. Thomas has yet to be reprimanded publicly by head coach Chip Kelly.
(Big thanks: the Oregonian)