Alabama football player charged with DUI

A University of Alabama football player was charged with DUI on July 13. According to police, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive lineman had a blood alcohol content of .13 percent when he was pulled over in Tuscaloosa. After the traffic stop, the accused man was detained at the Tuscaloosa County Jail and held on a $1,000 bond. The alleged drunk driving incident marks the second time this year that a UA player has been charged with DUI.

The incident occurred at 1:50 a.m. when a police officer reportedly witnessed the accused man hit another vehicle while pulling out of a parking spot on University Boulevard. Before the man could drive away from the parking lot, the police officer, who says he detected the odor of alcohol in his car, stopped the driver. The man was then given a field sobriety test.

The accused player joined UA in the spring after transferring from East Mississippi Community College. He was a former Florida signee and one of the nation’s top JUCO recruits. Following the DUI incident, the player’s coach offered a public statement expressing his disappointment. He went on to say that he would soon determine what disciplinary action the player would face as a result of the incident.

In some DUI cases, the results of a blood alcohol test fall close enough to the legal limit that they are within a known margin of error. When this is the case, an attorney may be able to argue that the test results are not sufficient to prove that the defendant was legally intoxicated. The results of a field sobriety test may also be disputed on the grounds that they are based on one police officer’s opinion.

Source: AL.com, “Alabama defensive lineman Jarran Reed arrested for DUI in Tuscaloosa“, Michael Casagrande, July 13, 2014