A story about a Florida football player...
Story on 10/05/07:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/2007-10-05-florida-joiner_N.htm
[Owner] Stan Forron said he has had as many as 30 cars removed from his towing business over the last 20 years and never seen anyone arrested and charged with burglary.
"What he did was wrong," Forron told Florida Today. "We're not saying he's an angel and shouldn't pay. But why all of a sudden is he being arrested for something that happened numerous times throughout the years and nobody else has been arrested?"
According to a Gainesville Police Department incident report, teammate and fellow senior safety Kyle Jackson drove Joiner to the towing company.
Forron, who owns the facility, says that Joiner had actually talked to the dispatcher who was working and had made arrangements to pick up the car. The employee left to get some food and the gate to the company was left open. Joiner showed up to pay the towing bill, waited for some time and said he got impatient and decided to go ahead and take the car and worry about the bill later."
Another take (on 10/05/07):
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071005/BREAKING/71005011
But the property's owner, Stan Forron, later said the incident was a mistake. Joiner was supposed to show up and get the car but came later than expected. The employee was not on duty at the office at the time, he said. Forron also said the towing bill has since been paid.
Police reported Joiner had been at the impound lot at about 4:30 a.m. Two calls from employees reported Joiner was trying to take the car from the lot and asked police to hurry to the location. The calls identified Joiner by name and said he was with the Gators, according to recordings released by police.
Story on 10/06/07:
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=92918&ref=rss
According to Gainesville Police, Joiner pushed open an electric gate, got into the car and started to drive off. When Joiner stopped to close the gate, he was confronted by a witness who called police.
Shortly after Joiner's arrest, Forron said the player had arranged to pay the bill and pick up the car. But Forron said no one was around to take Joiner's money, so he must have thought it was OK to take the car and settle up later.
"He was a perfect gentleman," Forron said. "That had a big influence on why I wanted (the charge dropped). If he had been yelling and screaming, they wouldn't have been dropped."
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Short story, plain and simple.
Student-athlete shows up at a towing yard at 4:30 in the morning on Tuesday to get his girlfriend's car. He walks in, gets in the car, and drives out. If he hadn't stopped to close the gate, it wouldn't even be in the news.
But, let's get this straight. If you, I, or anyone not a student-athlete (at least on the Florida team), especially any normal black person (who are more readily accused of crimes than whites, it's a fact.), were to have walked into a business and taken off with a seized piece of property, we would be in jail. At the very least.
Someone made calls as soon as the news broke. Police knew it was Joiner before they even responded, due to info from the towing company employees. How many police in Gainesville don't know a star football player? And how many police don't know influential people? Like boosters, like attorneys, etc.
The criminal got away with breaking the law. Regardless of whether the owner of the towing company wanted to press charges, the guy still trespassed and stole (it is stealing when you take your own property after it's been seized) property. How can that NOT be intent? (Regardless of whether he made an arrangement to show up to get the car, going in in the middle of the night hours after he was supposed to, without notification of those who were on duty, is still criminal trespass.)
It's another case of someone famous or important getting what they want, regardless of the law. From the stories early on, he wasn't supposed to play on Saturday, but yet there he was, playing in the fourth quarter.
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