wide receiver
Nearly nine months after Demetrius Williams, star receiver for the University football team, was arrested and cited for what police say were five instances of jamming parking meters so he could park for free, the city prosecutor’s office still hasn’t formally charged him.
Williams, 22, was cited for five counts of criminal mischief 3 in early August 2004 for allegedly sticking pennies and washers
covered in a “gooey substance” in parking meters, jamming them so they would read ‘out of order,’ according to a Eugene Police Department report.
EPD spokeswoman Kerry Delf said Williams’ attorney and a city prosecutor, who is currently on vacation, have been negotiating a plea bargain that will likely include charges of criminal mischief. Those charges will probably be coming soon, she said.
The city prosecutor’s office would not discuss the case with the Emerald because it is still open.
Williams, who said he didn’t tamper with the meters, said it’s “kind of petty” if the city prosecutor’s office is planning on filing charges against him.
“They tried to say I was plugging meters or something, I guess,” Williams said. “I guess they threw it out, I don’t know.”
Williams said he “wasn’t trying to do anything or stiff anybody or anything like that. I was just parking my car and going.”
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said he was aware of the arrest at the time and had a conversation with Williams, but he didn’t remember details of the conversation. Bellotti said he “thought the charges were dismissed because they weren’t filed.”
“If and when anything like that occurs, I would take appropriate steps based on our team rules,” Bellotti said.
EPD officer Randy Ellis, who arrested and cited Williams, said he couldn’t discuss details of the case because no formal charges have been filed. Ellis did say, however, that suspects often have to appear in court two weeks after they are cited. If they plead “not guilty,” they have about a month before a trial is held, when the arresting officer receives a subpoena to appear in court.
“My flag went up when I got no subpoena,” Ellis said, adding that after he had someone check the court records, he found that Williams still hadn’t been charged.
According to a written statement by Eugene meter maintenance technician Scott Anstine, a parking officer observed the same white Ford Mustang parked five different times at meters reading “out of order” near McKenzie Hall on the west side of campus.
Officers checked and found that washers and pennies coated with a gooey substance had been jammed in them.
Anstine wrote that on the morning of Aug. 3 he checked the meters in the area and confirmed they were all working. He then waited until the Ford Mustang parked in an open spot at about 10 a.m. and watched as the driver took “something from his pants pocket and slowly put it in the coin slot of the meter.” Anstine wrote that he checked the meter and found that a coin covered in the same substance had caused the meter to read “out of order” before reporting the incident to Ellis.
According to a written account by Ellis, Anstine and Ellis later saw Williams watching the officers and talking on his cell phone.
“As Anstine and I approached, we saw Williams — Anstine ID’d him — he immediately took off in the opposite direction and went into McKenzie Hall. We did not locate him in the main floor area.” Ellis wrote that he later contacted
him when Williams appeared on the street.
“Williams did not want to talk to me, or identify himself,” Ellis wrote. “I told him what the situation was, and he immediately said the meter was out of order when he parked there. He said he put ‘a quarter’ in it, and it showed ‘out of order.’ He said it was not his fault that the city had faulty meters. I told him that his vehicle had been parked on a lot of ‘out of order’ meters lately, and I felt he was making them go ‘out of order’ and then parking without paying. Williams denied this, and said there were a lot of ‘out of order’ meters in the area. He usually drives around until he finds one, and then parks on it. I told Williams I did not believe him, and that he was under arrest for criminal
mischief.”
A statewide search of Williams’ court records showed that he has only one entry: a conviction for a speeding ticket in 2003.
