During his arrest on DUI charges Wednesday in Atlanta, University of Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans repeatedly attempted to negotiate with the arresting officer, according to the Georgia State Patrol’s police report released Friday.
Evans was arrested at 11:54 p.m. on the intersection of Roswell Road and Chastain Drive in Fulton County after a GSP officer pulled him over for failure to maintain his lane. The report states Evans, a Gainesville High graduate, moved at a low speed and drifted in and out of a turn lane and drifted across the yellow line on Roswell Road. When being signaled by the officer to pull over, Evans stopped in the left lane of traffic.
Evans stated he drank two vodka martinis at a restaurant and another at Beluga Martini Bar in Atlanta.
The officer also noticed a pair of red panties in between Evans’ legs.
“She took them off and I held them because I was just trying to get her home,” Evans told the officer, according to the report.
During the field sobriety evaluation, which Evans failed, Evans began bargaining with the arresting officer.
“I am not trying to bribe you, but I am the athletic director of the University of Georgia,” he said, according to the report.
“I don’t want to use who I am, but I would just ask that you take me to a motel,” Evans said later in the report.
Evans again: “I am not trying to bribe you, but is there anything you can do without arresting me?”
The report states that Evans began crying. After failing the field sobriety test, Evans was arrested and charged with DUI.
The passenger, Courtney Nay Fuhrmann, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after repeatedly getting out of Evans’ car during Evans’ field sobriety test. The report states she was “combative” when being placed in the patrol car.
Evans and Furhmann both rode to the station in the same patrol car and Furhmann said she was “mad because he was going to get off and she wasn’t,” the report states.
When asked by the arresting officer, Furhmann said she and Evans had been seeing each other for “only a week or so,” before adding, “Just to let you know, it will be erased because he is the athletic director of UGA and he has that power.”
At his press conference on Thursday in Athens, Evans said he hoped to remain athletic director at Georgia.
“My desire is to keep my job,” he said. “I want to be here at the University of Georgia. I love this institution. This is my alma mater. I believe that we have a lot of unfinished business here at the University of Georgia and I will do everything within my power to be a part of this institution, but at the same time, respect whatever comes my way.”
Georgia president Michael Adams, who is currently on vacation, released a statement Friday saying he’ll wait before he makes a decision on Evans’ status with Georgia.
“I was notified of this matter while away on vacation and will reserve further action pending a full review by staff and legal counsel.”
Evans, who is set to appear in Atlanta Municipal Court on July 12 according to The Associated Press, was arrested minutes before a new five-year contract extension that raised his annual pay to $550,000 was to take effect.