Caleb King’s status on team unclear after arrest (updated w/ Richt comments)
(Updated 9:10 p.m.)
Two days after Georgia’s football team won its first game in more than a month, the bad news resumed for the Bulldogs: The team had its 11th player arrested this year.
Tailback Caleb King spent about six hours Monday in the Clarke County Jail on a bench warrant issued after he failed to appear in court in Walton County to address a speeding ticket.
By late morning, King was released on $380 bond, which officials said would be used to satisfy the speeding fine. But how the issue will affect his status on the Georgia team remains unclear.
Coach Mark Richt did not make an announcement or meet with reporters Monday. He discussed the issue on his weekly radio show Monday night but did not say what action he will take.
“Getting a speeding ticket, not paying it and not showing up for a court date is certainly not a very responsible thing, but I can’t say it’s some kind of awful act that we all should just be ashamed of,” Richt said. “But certainly … all of these young men have to understand they have a responsibility to take care of whatever issue they have.
“If they have a ticket, they need to pay it. If they don’t [pay it], they need to show up for the court date. Those things are certainly obvious, and we have to get better at those kinds of things.”
Later, Richt referred to the King situation when asked if freshman running back Ken Malcome might play for the first time.
“There’s a good chance that happens,” Richt said. “We’re not saying for 100 percent certain he will, but the situation that Caleb has gotten himself into and the fact that [tailback] Carlton Thomas’ hamstring may or may not be ready by the end of the week, it may be that Ken has to play.”
To another caller who said he hopes King is not kicked off the team, Richt replied: “We’re just going to do what we feel like is the right thing to do. Bottom line is, we’ve got to make sure everybody takes care of business.”
Of the 10 players previously arrested this year, Richt dismissed four from the team and, in most of the other cases, issued suspensions of at least one game. King’s is the first case involving failure to appear in court for a speeding ticket.
King was arrested by Athens-Clarke County Police after his brother, Brandon King, was pulled over in east Athens around 4 a.m. Monday for driving without a working tag light, according to police spokeswoman Hilda Sorrow. The stop of Brandon King triggered a series of events that led to the discovery of the outstanding warrant for his brother.
First, Brandon King, 23, was placed under arrest when it was determined he was driving with a suspended license, police said. Then, officers asked Brandon King to call the owner of the vehicle he was driving, a 1996 Ford Explorer, and have it picked up.
The vehicle’s owner, Georgia football player Brandon Wood, arrived at the scene five minutes later and was accompanied by Caleb King, according to police. Officers checked the two players’ licenses and discovered the outstanding warrant from nearby Walton County for Caleb King’s arrest. He was booked into the Clarke County Jail shortly after 5 a.m.
Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said the warrant had been issued by a judge after King, 22, failed to pay a fine or appear in court in connection with a speeding ticket this past summer.
King received a citation June 20 for driving 76 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone on Highway 78, Chapman said. The warrant was issued by a judge after King failed to appear for an Aug. 6 court date.
King was released on bond from the Clarke County Jail at 10:45 a.m. Monday. His $380 bond will be used to pay the speeding ticket, an official with the Walton County Sheriff’s Department said.
Two players said King participated in Georgia’s practice Monday evening.
King’s arrest was the second of a football player since UGA President Michael Adams last month called on the athletics department to deal with the proliferation of arrests.
“We have had too much in the football team,” Adams said in a Sept. 18 interview. “And so we expect the coaches and the AD’s to provide role models and leadership for their players, and I told the whole Athletic Association that” in an early-September staff meeting.
King’s arrest was his second since joining the Georgia program. In 2007, he was arrested by UGA Police for driving a motor-scooter with a suspended license and going the wrong way on a one-way street.
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923 comments Add your comment
sandman053
October 11th, 2010
5:47 pm
@ Shane The tag light is in the books under Title 40 of the Georgia Code… Section 8 about equipment. Anyway, most folks use it to simply pull over a car (this occurred at 4AM-ish in the morning) to see if someone was drinking or up to other tomfooolery. Yes it is a pretextual stop and it is entirely legal. Now after the pretextual stop, the driver had a suspended license. So this person is going to jail, but instead of imposing a wrecker fee on top of the fine for suspended license this cop lets him call the owner of the vehicle.
Once that owner gets there (still all at prior to 5AM) the cop runs a check on those folks as well. Again standard procedure.
Now as to the seriousness of this crime? It was a speeding ticket and it is possible to forget. Heck I just remembered I have an Athens parking ticket to pay this week. And I happen to be 40 years old. Just let the boy run every step in Sanford Stadium and sit him for one game and be done with it.
WTF????
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
Alabama 33, Aubarn 17. Questions???
Harry from da Burn
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
hey Kim im calling the UGA fans idiots that are saying cops shouldn’t check IDs every traffic stop. Get back behind the register loser.
big deal
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
not thug behavior, get over it
Paddy
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
doggie style…cab drivers don’t get on tv, thus no media coverage. You should know that!
Its simple
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
I don’t know why Mark Richt is mum for, its simple kick the THUG off the team now!!
Red face Dawg
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
When a program has more arrests than wins in a year, its time for a shake up.
mama always said:
October 11th, 2010
5:48 pm
Why all the empty seats this past weekend for a game against TENNESSEE? There was SRO in the Athens Clarke County Jail with UGA athletes.
munsondawg
October 11th, 2010
5:49 pm
He WILLINGLY AND KNOWINGLY avoided a court date. Forgetting is not an excuse. He is an adult. I, as a season ticket holder, am tired of “stupid” mistakes by Georgia players. Take your crap Caleb and LEAVE………….
big deal
October 11th, 2010
5:50 pm
Hey its simple-
Yeah, its simple, you are an idiot
Big L
October 11th, 2010
5:50 pm
since when does not paying a speeding ticket make a person a thug? Y’all are a bunch of morons. Punish him hard for being stupid. But he ain’t a violent thug. Hell, the fact that he enrolled at the age of 17 at UGA tells me he is smart. But just like a Techtard, BOOK smarts don’t take in account common sense. Punish him. But he’s the type that will get something from it.
mama always said:
October 11th, 2010
5:50 pm
Ignorance of the law shall not be tolerated…..by Buford T. Justice….
insideralltheway
October 11th, 2010
5:51 pm
very strange….I’ve never seen King speeding on the football field…….
db
October 11th, 2010
5:51 pm
I bet CK is much more unhappier about fumbling that ball late in the Colorado game now. If he had of scored and UGa won, his sentence may have gone lighter.
browndog
October 11th, 2010
5:52 pm
CK made a mistake, but not the type of mistake that should warrant extreme punishment. CMR will research the facts and make the appropriate, and informed, decision.
big deal
October 11th, 2010
5:52 pm
db, learn english.
baddog
October 11th, 2010
5:53 pm
Hey Big L, what does the L stand for?
Loser?
sandman053
October 11th, 2010
5:53 pm
@ insideeralltheway… that was hilarious about King never speeding on the field. I almost had beverage come out of my nose. thanks!
@ mama always said…Best movie ever!!!!
db
October 11th, 2010
5:53 pm
It’s Ingrish big dealDO.
mama always said:
October 11th, 2010
5:54 pm
Does anyone think that Isiah Crowell’s parents want him being associated with Washun Ealey( hitting parked cars, leaving the scene of an accident) or Caleb King..failure to appear in court?
I think not!
Its simple
October 11th, 2010
5:54 pm
big deal you dumba$$ shut the f up
big deal
October 11th, 2010
5:54 pm
its simple – you are still stupid
Surprised
October 11th, 2010
5:54 pm
Here’s the bottom line:
When I view old footage of college football players receiving awards, I see young men, in business suits, with decent haircuts, who speak the english language eloquently. The NFL needs to start a minor league system for these idiot thugs that are too stupid to be in school. This is embarrassing!
Richt walks warily down the street with the brim pulled way down low
October 11th, 2010
5:55 pm
seriously does it matter one iota? UGA is 2-4 (1-3 SEC)
South Carolina, Arkansas, and Auburn have passed you. Miss State is on the verge of passing you. Florida already owns you. LSU and Bama are already miles infront of you.
UGA is insignificant in the grand scheme of things in the SEC. Whether of not King gets kicked off of the team DOES NOT MATTER
big deal
October 11th, 2010
5:56 pm
some of you Tech fans should be ashamed. excellent school but no common sense.
kick king off b/c of a speeding ticket. your ex-coach lied on his resume, so you STFU.
Bulldog Nation
October 11th, 2010
5:57 pm
It’s a national disgrace.
Hobnail Boot
October 11th, 2010
5:57 pm
I am so sick of reading this crap about our players. It has to stop somewhere.
munsondawg
October 11th, 2010
5:57 pm
This isn’t the first run in w/ the law for Caleb. He’s been arrested before. Enough is enough.
Dawgpaw
October 11th, 2010
5:57 pm
You overzealous, pompous buttheads. Get on with your pathetic existence and move on. The kid made a mistake. Bad boy, ……… now go play some football. Must be a slow day in the Athens police department for a tag light being out, and a slow news day at the AJC for this report. Go Dawgs. And have a nice day.
Its simple
October 11th, 2010
5:57 pm
big deal-the only thing that isn’t big is your brain you retard
Bling and blang
October 11th, 2010
5:58 pm
Too bad brotha AJ couldnt help out with the fine .AJ shouldve sold his ear bling to help a brotha out….
mama always said:
October 11th, 2010
5:58 pm
When a player has more tattoos, piercings, fake grills than he has tackles or yards gained, you have a major problem…..
C.King was this highly sought after player who has done NOTHING while at UGA and if anyone thinks his dismissal will greatly missed is just in need of some strong medication.
Que?
October 11th, 2010
5:58 pm
Big Deal (aka Jethro Bodean) – What year did you graduate, from the 6th grade? Let me guess, not from not is double not?
Hobnail Boot
October 11th, 2010
6:00 pm
Have the coaches lost touch with the team? I manage sevral folks in the real world and I am not a micro manager. I do howerer know what goes on and watch the direction we are going. If I don’t like what I see I advise others how to drive the ship.
big deal
October 11th, 2010
6:00 pm
simple, who are you a fan of? Tech? Florida? Did you even attend college?
Use your brain. You don’t kick a kid off a team for this. Sure, suspend him for a game.
Why don’t you comment on the Vols? Beat up a cop and no suspension? Stalking by Florida player gets two games?? Be reasonable.
mama always said:
October 11th, 2010
6:00 pm
Spend more time in the weigh room or running the steps in stadium than you do behind the wheel of an automobile would be the last words CMR should say to C.King.
Its simple
October 11th, 2010
6:00 pm
Everybody please excuse big deal, he only cares about winning and this is why georgia can’t become a better program because of fans like this. Caleb King has been arrested before and its time for him to go, don’t let the door hit him on the way out and big deal since you like him so much you can follow his azz too
big deal
October 11th, 2010
6:01 pm
“much more unhappier” is grammatically incorrect.
mama always said:
October 11th, 2010
6:01 pm
Then tell him that you will help him transfer to GEORGIA State……
BoWeevil
October 11th, 2010
6:01 pm
You left out that he has not done a
DAMN THING
since coming on MY campus, except to get
ARRESTED.
That and telling Ken Malcome that being a Tailback at UGA is a “GRIND.”
B.S. Coach Richt
Ex Bulldog fax
October 11th, 2010
6:02 pm
The Vanderbilt game will be played at the Athens-Clarke county detention center.
Its simple
October 11th, 2010
6:02 pm
Big Deal you dummy this is not his first time being arrested, what do you not understand? Zero Policy for everyone
big deal
October 11th, 2010
6:02 pm
que? since you can’t figure it out, I spelled it out for you.
6th grade? funny. I have my undergrad degree from UGA and post-grad from UF.
BoWeevil
October 11th, 2010
6:03 pm
big deal
11
big deal
October 11th, 2010
6:03 pm
simple. I understand. please answer my question about the TN and FL players though.
Big L
October 11th, 2010
6:04 pm
Baddog. U just keep talkin that junk thru the computer. But if u need to know, I’ll introduce u to Mr L.
Top Recruit
October 11th, 2010
6:04 pm
You have a bad ankle for a few games. Banged up. Not seeing much PT. You fumble. Your QB has more rushing yards. You do not know how to ride a little scooter. Suspended license. The president of the University has said this behavior has to stop. Your peers have been arrested and dismissed. Your coaches have given you talks and a grace period to come clean.
Athens…home of the clueless. How can you expect anyone to play with any kind of production when they can not manage their own life. Did these guys think they have a life time of entitlements.
If I’m coach I cut you. Ramp up my recruiter. Start punishing the whole team for another’s transgressions. I want the team to start controlling itself.
Makes you wonder if their moms don’t have to come to the game and dress them. Damn grow up! Take responsibility for yourself. The mindset you see off the field does not end when they cross the line and the whistle blows. It stays!
big deal
October 11th, 2010
6:04 pm
I am just tired of hearing “thug”. Mett’s arrest was bad, I agree. Some of these others are kids being
stupid.
Andy in Blairsville
October 11th, 2010
6:04 pm
Only thugs and deadbeats fail to appear in court.
While nearly every person on this blog has had a speeding ticket, how many have ever had a bench warrant issued by a judge for failure to appear in front of a judge?
Exactly.
Its simple
October 11th, 2010
6:05 pm
Here is your answer big deal 11 arrests in 4 months. ZERO POLICY