The story starts out that Tony Joiner, a safety for the University of Florida Gators, is the 8th player on the team to be arrested in the last 9 months. Then, it goes on to say what Joiner did. Apparently, Joiner's girlfriend's car was towed away, and he went to the towing company to pick it up, having arranged to come in advance. He waited for the tow company owner to arrive, and when he did not after some time, Joiner got impatient and tried to take the car off the lot. After a witness confronted him while he was closing the gate, he returned to the lot and waited for the police to arrive.
Now, Joiner was definitely impatient, at worst, guilty of making a dumb mistake, but is he deserving of a felony burglary charge? Well, here is the burglary statute in Florida, if you are interested:
1. Entering a dwelling, a structure, or a conveyance with the intent to commit an offense therein, unless the premises are at the time open to the public or the defendant is licensed or invited to enter; or
2. Notwithstanding a licensed or invited entry, remaining in a dwelling, structure, or conveyance:a. Surreptitiously, with the intent to commit an offense therein;
b. After permission to remain therein has been withdrawn, with the intent to commit an offense
therein; or
c. To commit or attempt to commit a forcible felony, as defined in s. 776.08.
(Don't worry about S. 776.08 since it's not relevant here).
And burglary is a felony in Florida, which means if you're found guilty, there goes your right to vote (surprise, surprise). Technically, this might be deemed burglary because at that time, the car could not be retrieved since it had become the property of the towing company once it was lawfully in their lot. That would mean if he took the car without paying, he had the intent to enter the lot and commit an offense ("stealing" his girlfriend's car). But as the property owner states below, the gate was left open - does that mean it was open to the public? And where was the person who had arranged with Joiner for him to pay and pick up the car? If you have ever had your car towed (and I have, several times), then you know those places are guarded like Fort Knox, land mines and all.
More importantly, once the police officers realized what had happened, and that the owner of the property that leases to the towing company was not taking issue with what happened, I think they should have worked it out so Joiner wouldn't get charged. This is what would normally happen, anyway. I mean, the owner had his info, so Joiner wasn't going to get very far. I like what the property owner had to say in defense of this being a misunderstanding:
"I don't know if he was late or early or what," said [Stan] Forron, who plans to urge the state attorney's office to drop the charges. "I don't understand why he was arrested. Is it a crime? Yes and no. It's kind of my fault because I left the gate open.
"It's like going to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and when you go to leave there's no one there to take your money. How long are you going to wait?"
Well, I recommend Joiner pass on the Cracker Barrel visits, too, if he can help it,m but if no ones is around to take my money, and I don't have change, I'd leave, too. I wish they would tackle me in the parking lot to pay my bill and then try to press charges against me.
But instead of explaining any of this, this first thing we see on ESPN.com that Joiner's being charged with felony burglary, and half of their readers probably never clicked on the link to see the rest of the story.
Now, I'm not saying what Joiner did was OK, but I am saying that we're dealing with a college kid here and, even putting aside the racial undertones of the situation with those who brought the charges, I think the media needs to be a little bit more responsible with the power of the pen that they possess. Truthfully, I think that people of all ages would have probably done the exact same thing in Joiner's situation if they needed their car at 5 a.m. And let's keep in mind that this was his girlfriend's car. Give this man a gold medal for taking a felony in honor of his girl!
But seriously, from the officers who charged him with felony burglary, to the writers who led their stories on this situation with the "felony burglary" tag and lumped Joiner in with the number of arrests of other players on the team, I think everyone involved was a little hard on this college kid. Particularly the media who are notorious for making something out of nothing. Now with all this attention, it's unclear if or when Joiner will be rejoining the team.
Coach Gundy's rant is starting to make more sense every day.
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