As shifty and elusive as Jameis Winston was on the field in his first season as Florida State’s starting quarterback, he’s just the same off of it. Reportedly.
Monday evening the full incident report from the redshirt sophomore’s latest encounter with law enforcement in and around the Tallahassee area was released, with a picture being painted that doesn’t quite square itself with the “I forgot” mea culpa laid out previously.
To quickly recap, Winston was cited last week for shoplifting a little over $32 in seafood from a grocery store. He was suspended from the baseball team and then ultimately reinstated after performing 20 hours of community service. In a statement of apology, the reigning Heisman winner acknowledged in part that he “made a terrible mistake for which I’m taking full responsibility. In a moment of youthful ignorance, I walked out of the store without paying for one of my items.”
Forgot? Consciously and willfully eluded? Somewhere in between? You decide. From the Tallahassee Democrat‘s account of the police report:As he was leaving the store, Winston appeared to pause in front of a Leon County deputy who was working in-store security detail at the time. The pause, the incident report said, appeared to be an attempt to avoid walking in front of the deputy. He said Winston then walked behind the deputy, past all registers and out of the store. A Publix employee told deputies he noticed Winston walk out of the store and assumed he hadn’t paid for his purchase since he didn’t have a grocery bag. He and his manager watched Winston walk out of the store because they thought he was grabbing a shopping cart. They soon realized Winston walked out without paying when he didn’t return.
The seafood clerk who took Winston’s order said the Heisman-winner regularly visits the store and that he gave Winston a bar code price tag on the seafood before he left the counter, the incident report said.
The Democrat writes that “Winston ordered three pounds of steamed crab legs with Old Bay seasoning and one pound of steamed crawfish with Cajun seasoning and then left the store.” Winston did dispute, as he had been accused, stealing butter so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
And, apropos of nothing, the 2014 college football season will kick off exactly 114 days from today.