The stretch of Interstate 77 from Charlotte, N.C. to Columbia, S.C. is built for speed … flat, straight and far less congested than South Carolina’s other major thoroughfares.
Just ask former S.C. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who was busted traveling more than 100 miles per hour on I-77 in a state-owned Crown Victoria several years ago.
Well guess what: University of South Carolina All-American defensive end Jadeveon Clowney one-upped Bauer this week … getting pulled over by the S.C. Highway Patrol traveling 110 miles per hour in a 70 miles per hour zone.
For those of you who learned math in a South Carolina government-run school, that’s forty miles per hour above the limit – and 15 miles per hour faster than the “above limit discretionary window” used by Palmetto State police to arrest individuals for reckless driving.
“For us it’s 26 miles per hour over,” one longtime law enforcement officer told FITS, adding at that level “it’s at our discretion” whether to incarcerate drivers and charge them with more serious traffic offenses.
The S.C. Highway patrolman who pulled over Clowney opted not to arrest the 6-foot-6, 274-pound defensive lineman – instead issuing him a $355 citation worth six points off of his South Carolina drivers’ license.
Clowney, 20, was driving a Chrysler 300 at the time he was pulled over on I-77 – which runs between Columbia, S.C. (where he has helped lead Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks to three consecutive ten-win seasons) and Rock Hill, S.C. (where he was the nation’s No. 1 high school recruit in 2010).
After winning SEC freshman of the year honors in 2011, Clowney had a dominating unanimous All-American season in 2012 – leading the nation in sacks and tackles for losses. Then there was his seismic hit on Michigan running back Vincent Smith in the 2013 Outback Bowl, which won an ESPY award and elevated Clowney to legend status.
Clowney’s numbers have been down in 2013, but he’s wreaked havoc on opponents’ game plans – dictating play calling and forcing mismatches elsewhere on the field.
USC sports information director Steve Fink said he didn’t know whose car Clowney was driving at the time he was pulled over. Fink also wasn’t immediately able to comment on how the incident would affect Clowney’s participation in the 2014 Capital One Bowl – scheduled for January 1 in Orlando, Florida between USC and Wisconsin.
Ok … now that we’ve dispensed with the facts of the case (what we know of them, anyway) it’s time for a little analysis.
Early reports indicate Clowney’s misadventure isn’t going to hurt him in the 2014 draft.
“A lead foot won’t affect his draft status,” USA Today‘s Brent Sobleski wrote. “Clowney is an elite prospect. Very few things can actually remove that label from rare talents. Clowney is set to become a Top 5 NFL draft pick. A speeding ticket five months before a team has to make a final decision on his selection will have very little bearing on when and where he will be drafted.”
That’s probably correct, but this isn’t your garden variety lead foot – 40 miles per hour over the speed limit is straight up reckless driving, and Clowney should have been cuffed and stuffed for endangering his fellow drivers.
Beyond that … why would someone who is in line to make tens of millions of dollars as a pro football player drive even one mile per hour over the posted limit?
Particularly in the sort of rainy, foggy conditions that prevailed around the Palmetto State last weekend?
Sources close to the USC program have repeatedly told FITS about the caution Clowney shows in regard to his various extracurricular activities, however in this case he exercised exceedingly poor judgment.
Driving ten miles over the limit is perfectly understandable. And on the Interstate it’s common to see cars traveling 20 miles per hour over the posted limit (although that’s begging for a ticket). But anything beyond 25 miles per hour above the limit strikes us as pushing the boundary of recklessness – which is precisely why cops have the discretion to arrest drivers who do so.
Clowney should have been arrested, in our opinion – if for no other reason than it would have given him some time to contemplate how colossally stupid it is for someone with his talent to jeopardize his own life, to say nothing of the lives of others.
Slow down, Jadeveon. Seriously …
99 comments
Guess he learned how to speed from Dabo. At least he was on the interstate.
In any case, he should face severe punishment from the team since his poor judgment tarnishes his team’s achievements. Unlike certain Upstate players who beat their girlfriends with towel rods.
Matthew 7:3-5
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
I got a direct line to God now, you know. Matthew’s admonition has been confirmed.
ITBGRC, Heaven was always a local call from Clemson.
Ugh, TBG, I hate to admit it , but A-6 and the fraternity house on the Quad was long distance. Both were dens of iniquity. Later, the “doorknob to hell” was an everyday destination on the way to and from the Apt. on the old Newry Hwy.
Dabo wrote an apology letter, so I’ll write one for JC and we’ll be all good. We good? We’re good…
We good?
No. We are not good.
Make Clowney write his own letter.
It’ll be a hoot!
Tonto “Bitterkitty” Goldstein
He can write?
That was my point!
OK TBG mi amigo, so I called our boy JC and let him write this himself. Let me just say that it’s probably not his best work because was in a bit of a hurry:
My peeps,
I bees very so sarry bouts da speedin thang on my ways to Charlotte. I wuz nice to 5-0, tho. I wont gets him fired or nuthin likes dat even if he posts somethun bout me on GamecockCentral.
Peace out – JC.
University of Sociopathic Criminals
And that other university is full of fine upstanding law abiding pasture grazing citizens.
…and it’s much harder for the CU kids to speed on the tractors.
The udder university, you mean.
as opposed to the Florida State Criminoles…
Was the car paid for by Jay-Z?
No… it was bought for him by his mother who has been working overtime at Frito Lay.
Riiight
Ummmmmm…the 300 is TBG’s. JD’s mom was supposed to use it to pick up some groceries and cleaning supplies. I’m sure he took it without her permission. He’s been acting way too big for his britches, lately–if you ask TBG. Anyway…no harm… no foul.
Oh…one other thing. TBG had just gotten paid for some beaver work and there were two deerskin “Wampum Sacks” each with about $40,000.00 in gold shekels, behind the seats.
Yo, DooDoo!
Call me!
One has to wonder why FITS made no mention of the fact that a video of the stop surely exists. Why not FOI the video and post to to FITS?
Too late, Will got punk’d by the MSM AGAIN! The video is posted on The State website. Will you used to be on the cutting edge but more and more you are missing stories completely or are days behind the curve.
Dipshits, stop acting like you’ve never sped, driven over 100 and are perfect! I’ve driven 110 on Forest Drive in Columbia,
LOL your handle couldn’t be better.
I had to vote you up just on the name alone.
Should be “southeasterndumbfuckastan”.
We are currently at war with southeasterndumbfuckastan
FITS goin’ all statist over speed limits!!
What’s wrong with a speed limit of “Reasonable and Proper”?
Then you are a bigger idiot than Clowney!
Was going to a hospital on Forest Dr. Very early in the morning and it was kind of important.
A police Officer,Emergency Personel and it was still wreckless.
I haven’t gone that fast since my cousin,an off-duty highway patrolman,asked me to help him get his stolen truck back from his cop girlfriend.In a patrol car.He had a studly sheriff friend who made it all worth it…;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DyesPp6OUY
Wonder how far Clowney’s helmet would have flown if his car had left the road and hit a tree at 110 mph
Oops my bad, meant head
Too bad we’ll never know! Would have been awesome!!
You should be ashamed of yourself and hopefully you never have a child that dies in a car accident – You are a disgrace to the human race – that is if you are human!
Lighten up Francis.
Says the guy that pokes fun at Kenny’s suicide (while conveniently ignoring Anthony Downs’s failed attempt).
Lighten up Alice.
That dude is flushing some serious cash down the drain.
You mean into taxpayers coffers.
No, Ernie was right.
State coffers.
Not taxpayer coffers.
*Gurgle*
Do I really have to point out that State = taxpayers?
He’s a Democrat. He’ll be fine. And there is the fact that I am a rabid Gamecock fan. Now, move along.
6 points…same amount that Taj scored and 6 more than Sammy. High Five!
Classic!
The “High Five!” meme has already become tiresome.
JD better slow it down in a Chrysler 300 with Walmart tires. Does he have any idea that his plastic car with Walmart tires could end his life going 110 mph down a pothole filled road like I-77? Simple math says after a Walmart tire blowout, it would take him 1/2 a mile to stop rolling over unless he hit a tree, equaling no NFL paychecks.
On I-77, going 110mph in a Chrysler 300 is not speeding – the air-speed of a Chrysler 300 (approx 2 tons) is about 155mph, and I-77 is pretty much a straight shot for 10 miles at a stretch. The reason he wasn’t arrested is because he was wearing a Tajh Boyd mask – he had his dreads all up in a snood. I have more, but the squirrels just aren’t listening, today.
Snood
Nice.
Had to look that one up. TBG is not sure if he lost street cred or fashionista cred.
Prolly both.
*sighs*
Chrysler 300 = Poor man’s Bentley.
Yeah he may one day own a real Bentley, but so did several other high profile NFL players… before they went bankrupt.
He looks like he just won,The Miss America Pageant. He’s kinda pretty for a colored boy…
70 mph is walking to a car like the 300. Why buy a V8 engine if you can’t go 71+?
Fits is a great site but way too much advertising, don’t you think?
Hmmm: Traveling 90 miles at 110 mph.
Looks like it would take JD: 31 mins and 17 secs to reach his destination.
Warning: If he makes the trip FIVE times results may vary. ..
And that’s what really has FITS p!$$#d….
Who cares?
As a parent and a college football fan, I can’t believe that people are actually making excuses for this type of judgement! I assure you, if that had been any other college student or young person, the vehicle would have been parked and the driver taken into custody. Clemson or Carolina, athlete or not, that behavior is ridiculous and for the University to continue with the PR bull crap is disgusting. Whores!!
Bauer and Clowney are not even in the top 10. Look at the speed logs for I-77.
Wonder if he’ll pull a dab0-5winney and have the cop fired?
Only if the cop abuses his position idiot.
Who knew Dabo had so much power to get a cop fired?
I’d like to se where that fable originated.
You don’t really believe (and watching that not-so-humble little peacock on the dash video) that Dabo and his peeps weren’t involved in running the clown cop off, do you? That’s naivety on a grand scale, that.
Yeah..Dabo owns the highway patrol. And every other SC gov’t agency, too. He doesn’t even have to pay state taxes!
Seriously…what is with you cocks and the conspiracy theories? Is it in that stinkin’ ass ice the put in teh watered down drink in Williams Brice?
You smoke a lot of crack…and doth protest too much. Besides, it was a small town clown who got fired over the infamous Dabo “Don’t you know who I am” ticket, not a trooper. Don’t know about your other conspiracy theories you referenced, but they sound interesting I guess. Put the pipe down…
I never heard about any cop getting fired; I’d like to see some proof of that. All I’ve ever seen or heard of that fable made up by the mouth breathers on FGF and on here.
As for cock conspiracy theories, I’ve seen them all from the ACC paid of the refs of the Clemson v NC State game so Clemson could win and go on to stay in the top 10, to the refs arrange the outcome of pretty much ANY game USCe loses. You cocks are crazy.
There are crazy, stupid redneck fans for every team in sports, but I am really starting to think that maybe you’re not for real. You can’t be this insanely partisan for Klempsun and claim not to know about the little Dabo speeding kerfuffle, but I’ll play along. Here ya go:
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2012/sep/27/fired-pickens-cop-speaks-out-about-dabo-swinney-tr/
And after reading that, I see the cop got fired for strike 3 and surfing the internet on county time. Dabo seemed OK with the ticket, and wrote a letter stating so. So did the mayor.
But I’m sure for Cocks who love conspiracy theories, well, there ya go.
Jeez. Despite your stunning (claimed) ignorance, I will continue to play along. Put the Kool-Aid down, watch the entire video, and try not to be so naive. If you truly still believe that Dabo is some humble dude, well, I just can’t help you. If you really think cops routinely get fired purely for such silliness, again, I can’t help you. Hyper-partisans in college sports creep me out just a little. Lighten up, chic!
Ahh…cocks and their conspiracy theories. They just never seem to end.
That cop got fired for 2 things: Using the internet for personal reasons on state time, then, and more importantly, writing about it on the internet.
If I wrote something on the internet about what happened at my work and represented myself as a spokesperson of my employer, I’d get canned too. Most people would–its in almost every “code of conduct” for any job, especially a cop.
The cop was a cock lover, and wanted to show all his cock buddies how much of a badass he was by ticketing the Clemson coach. Had he kept his mouth shut (and not posted his “event” on the internet), he’d still have a job. Imagine if he did that same thing about a case that actually mattered? He would at best, handicap any possible conviction. That’s why he got fired.
And apparently, his lawyer must not thought he had much of a legal recourse to being shitcanned either, because he dropped his wrongful termination lawsuit:
http://pickenssentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=LA&date=20130807&category=news&lopenr=308079987&Ref=AR
Sure, Dabo’s a dick. His brother seems worse. That isn’t illegal. But despite what cock want to think, Dabo doesn’t run Pickens County. He barely runs the Clemson football dept.
Funny how a few days ago you demanded “proof” of the mysterious (but exceedingly well known) Dabo ticket thing, and now you are an expert on cop employment law. Powerful, that Google thing. On the other hand, I actually am an expert on cop employment law. I don’t have time to break down all of the stupid in your weird rants, but cops don’t generally get fired for silliness like utilizing a work computer for personal use. If so, we’d have very few cops left in this country. Hell, we wouldn’t have many employees of any stripe left. Anyway, this whole thread began with your weird declaration of the cop getting fired as “fable,” and has now ended with you agreeing with my central point that Dabo is a loud mouthed frat boy ass hat, who (even in his apology letter) infers that he should have received a warning; Oh, sorry, had the incident “handled another way.” Of course Dabo himself didn’t personally fire the silly dufus cop, but to say that his “peeps” didn’t, at the very least, influence the situation is eight kinds of kooky. That’s not a Cocks vs. Tigers thing for you obsessed types, it’s just common sense. I’m done – peace!
“demanded” = “I’d like to see proof?”
So a cop won’t get fired for running his mouth about his job on the internets?
Bullshit.
I never said Dabo wasn’t a dick; I just said he doesn’t have enough power or persuasion to get anyone fired. Conspiracies…
No conspiracies here…just dealing with crazed, hyper-partisan weirdness. If you really believe Dabo “doesn’t have enough power or persuasion” (whatever that means) to “get anyone fired” in the big ‘ol town of Clemson, God bless ya!
Tractors may not speed but at least we are no. 21. Where is uSC?
Steve Fink to the rescue. I guess no CU players were arrested for this or bottle throwing
Actually Clemson is no. 6 in the ACADEMIC BCS poll out today. As expected Duke is no. 1. USCe? Oh, they are no.17.
21? Hell, you are #1. Biggest asshole on here. Way to go. now go sniff more of your own farts.
I get that this is a story because it involves Clowney, but where was the story about me when I was speeding as a college student?
**in a singy-songy voice**
when a body meets a body, somebody’s been in the rye….
Shifty is thinking about doing something reckless. That will be the moment I click on the box “show content” when the message appears ” Internet Explorer has blocked content with security error”
‘least it isn’t rape the preferred misadventure of the ACC…
Clowney was arrested. Which ACC player has been arrested for rape?
Remember me?
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1901&dat=19860817&id=NlQgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UtIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1375,733903
um, CNSYD, Clowney was never arrested. You are refering to an incident from 5 points when he was detained for a brief time, but he was never arrested. Show me the arrest report. Cant can you? And here you normally with those technicalities,
did he get a ticket from SCHP on I 77? That is technically an arrest.
what the “F” are you talking about? In no way is a speeding ticket an arrest. Taters bending the truth again? So did Dabo get “arrested” last year before he go the cop fired? Off subject reply in 3,2,1…..
OK, so it is a “summons”. Talk about a technicality. See what happens if you don’t appear. Arrest, summons, etc. what is the difference? You have to go to court or maybe “plead guilty” by paying a fine. So, yes if Dabo got a speeding ticket then he was arrested or summoned or whatever you want to call it. Now explain how Dabo forced the Pickens cop to use government property in an unauthorized manner which resulted in his dismissal. That sure was slick of Dabo.
so if clowney was given a “summons” would you say Tajh got “PTI” since he was let off with a warning just the day before?
Lets see. Bring up “old” win-loss” records and cocks scream you can’t use those. Bring up a 27 year old warrant and you can count that. BTW, how did it turn out?
Hey CSNYD,
Remember when George Rogers wanted to receive his Heisman Trophy at “someplace he had never been before”?
Some suggested the Clemson endzone.
right next to Sammy Watkins?
you asked the question prick. i answered it
So now the series record is in play as “OLD” news now counts, right?
BTW, what was the result of Flowers’ warrant?
Kenny Flowers:
Remember me?
Best Coots bumpersticker ever:
“Don’t Send Flowers to Your Mother”
At about the same time, TBG was sporting a “0 and 8–Ain’t it Great?/ HONK if You’ve Never Won a Bowl Game” bumpersticker on his ride.
Good times.
Clowney’s in a hurry to get of that hole Columbia, too
What I would like to know is how the hell does he have a Chrysler 300?
Old ball coach got a ticket for speeding more than 15 less than 25 on 2.4.11
newspaper never mentioned it. his daughter in law got two tickets in for 10 mph over
So, I guess you vestal virgins making negative comments never saw triple digits when you were behind the wheel????? Gimme a break. He was on a damned Interstate in an area not noted for heavy traffic. What was he endangering other than maybe himself and a few deer?
What is it that makes getting above that century mark such a BFD? Death and destruction in an accident are almost assured at considerably lower speeds.
How many times has the Trooper who cited him hit the century mark, just to catch up to those “dangerous spaeders” who were traveling at much slower speeds? How many times has he “opened it up” when no one else was around just to see how well his car performed, or maybe just to “blow her out a little”, and gone well past the hundred mark.
Speeding is one of the most over-enforced laws on the books, primarily because it is something that everyone does at one time or another, whether they intend to or not. It is a huge cash cow for states and Yokelburg cities and counties because everyone does it.
Well…since you put it that way, he should have been awarded for breaking the law.
I wonder why no one is talking about Tajh Boyd and his speeding ticket just the day before. After his game VS THE USC, he just isn’t as news worthy I guess.
The “one hit wonder” is now the “one hit blunder”.
Q: Jadaveon leaves Rock Hill at 110 mph heading south on I-77. How long will it take him to reach Columbia?
A: 31:17
He was driving an STR8 Chrysler 300, sittng on 22″ rims. I’m a Cllowney fan, but I’m sorry that is $40K worth of car and that is used. It sucks, but he is dirty.
He got his dates mixed up. He was hurrying to the Charlotte Airport in order to get to New York in time for his Heisman presentation.