Humphrey dismissed from UGA basketball team
Player was arrested Tuesday for DUI and other charges


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/27/08

In the aftermath of an arrest for DUI and other charges, Billy Humphrey has been kicked off the Georgia men's basketball team.

Humphrey, 20, was arrested Tuesday morning in Gwinnett County for DUI, failure to maintain his lane and purchasing alcohol while under age. Friday afternoon, Georgia coach Dennis Felton announced his decision to dismiss Humphrey.

Gwinnett County
Georgia basketball player Billy Humphrey, 20, was arrested Tuesday morning in Gwinnett County for DUI, failure to maintain his lane and purchasing alcohol while under age.
 
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"I am disappointed in Billy," Felton said in statement released by UGA. "We've worked really hard with him in the past to see that he succeeds, but I feel that it's now best for our program to move forward without him."

Humphrey, who was to be a senior in the 2008-09 season, was Georgia's second-leading scorer last season and helped the team to the NCAA Tournament.

A guard from Dacula, Humphrey played in 30 of 34 games last season, starting 28. He averaged 12.2 points per game, second-best on the team.

According to the police report of his drunk driving arrest obtained by the Journal-Constitution, Humphrey pleaded with police not to arrest him and was later warned that he could be tasered.

Also according to the report, Humphrey said "Please, please, please. I am begging you not to do this. You will ruin my career." The report indicates that Humphrey made the statement after acknowledging that he had "a few drinks" and was responding to the officer's question on what he had been drinking.

Prior to submitting to field sobriety tests, the police report states "the driver told me that he knows that he had been drinking and that he was only going two more lights up the road and then he was going to his mom's house. The driver then asked me if I could just follow him home."

After agreeing to and failing several sobriety tests, the report states that Humphrey was "slightly hesitant" when asked to turn around to be placed in handcuffs. "The driver was advised that if he did not turn around, he would be shot with a taser," according to the police report. Humphrey was placed in double-locked handcuffs.

According to the police report, an inventory of the silver Chevy Monte Carlo that Humphrey was driving revealed a half-full quart bottle of rum in a back pack on the back seat.

It was Humphrey's second arrest on alcohol-related charges since February. Humphrey was also placed on probation for 18 months and entered into a pretrial diversion program as result of a November felony weapons charge for having a butterfly knife in the dorm room he shared with teammate Mike Mercer. He was suspended for a total of four games last season for the two incidents.

In the offseason last year, Felton dismissed forward Takais Brown, and two games into the season, he dismissed Mercer, who is from Snellville.

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