Two Florida State players — starting cornerbacks P.J. Williams and Ronald Darby — were involved in a hit-and-run accident in October that resulted in two traffic tickets, the New York Times reported Friday.
It is the latest in a series of incidents involving Florida State players and Tallahassee law enforcement officials.
According to the Times, Williams, driving with a suspended license, hit a car off-campus at 2:37 a.m. Oct. 5 — just hours after the Seminoles had beaten Wake Forest, 43-3. Both cars were totaled. The paper reported that Williams abandoned the wrecked car and fled, along with Darby and another unidentified passenger, before returning to the scene "approximately" 20 minutes later.
Florida State University president John Thrasher released a statement in response to the report.
"The university administration wants to convey to you its profound disappointment in a New York Times article posted Nov. 14 suggesting a coverup in connection with an Oct. 5 car accident that involved FSU football players. The evidence simply does not support the implications in the Times article.
"We will continue to monitor media coverage of this incident and respond appropriately, but we want you to know the university worked very hard to provide accurate information to the reporter and is disturbed by the result. When read carefully, it is clear the story contains no evidence to support any of the writer’s implications.’’
The Times said Williams, the most valuable player in last season’s BCS National Championship, was not tested for alcohol or even asked by Tallahassee police if he had been drinking prior to the accident, and that two ranking officers from the Florida State University police department, who lacked jurisdiction, arrived on the scene but failed to report the incident to the school.
Florida State told the Times that the officers’ role was too minor to require a report or even to enter in their online police log.
The Times reported that — while the case was initially investigated as a hit-and-run accident — Williams was given only two traffic tickets totaling $392 in fines, which later didn’t even show up in the Tallahassee Police Department’s public online database because of a "technical glitch," according to police. The fines remain unpaid and Williams’ license remains suspended, the paper reported.
Tallahassee police chief Michael DeLeo told the Times that "no one should be shown any favoritism" and that an investigation would be forthcoming. Florida State would not cooperate with the Times’ investigation by making anybody available for interviews.
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