ATHENS, Ga. — University of Georgia athletics director Damon Evans was arrested Wednesday night in Atlanta on suspicion of DUI, Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright told ESPN.com on Thursday.
Wright said a state trooper pulled over Evans’ 2009 BMW and detected an odor of alcohol in the car. Wright said the trooper administered a field sobriety test and placed Evans under arrest on charges of DUI and failure to maintain lane. Wright said Evans later refused to take a breathalyzer test at an Atlanta jail.
Wright said a passenger in Evans’ car was also arrested. Wright didn’t have the identity of the passenger and didn’t know why the passenger was arrested, and said the information wouldn’t be available until an incident report was completed later Thursday.
A person at the Atlanta Pre-Trial Detention Center said Evans was released from the facility early Thursday morning.
Evans, who was named Georgia’s athletics director in 2003, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Evans was only 34 years old when he was hired to replace longtime Georgia athletics director and football coach Vince Dooley, who was forced out after a contentious contract dispute with UGA President Michael Adams. Evans has been honored multiple times by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal and was named one of Sports Illustrated’s “101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports.” In 2009, he was named The Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year for the Division I Southeast Region.
A UGA spokesman said the school was aware of reports of Evans’ arrest and anticipated releasing a statement later Thursday.
via University of Georgia AD Damon Evans arrested for DUI – ESPN.
