Four Germantown High School basketball players arrested
GERMANTOWN -- Four Germantown High School basketball players were arrested for marijuana possession following a traffic stop. Police say the arrests occurred on January 23rd around 10:30 a.m.
Germantown police say there were six students riding in the 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer they pulled over for a traffic violation. An officer detected the strong odor of marijuana in the car. Five of the students were issued citations for possession of marijuana, and one is facing criminal charges related to possession with intent to deliver marijuana.
While all six students were Germantown High School students, four of them are members of the Germantown basketball team. The four basketball team members cited are Dearionte Hudson, Brian Bearden, Lamonte Bearden, and Lamont Williams Christian. All four players are 18 years old.
Back lash on social media about going public with the arrests has been so harsh that the Police Chief issued a follow up statement Friday night to the original press release confirming the arrests.
Here is that statement:
2.There is no expectation of privacy or confidentiality in adult criminal cases.
3.Adult municipal ordinance citations have no expectation of privacy.
4.GPD strictly follows the open records law, if a media outlet wants copies of adult booking photos or names, we are required to release them.
5.Marijuana is illegal, whether you agree or not, as police officers, we took an oath to uphold the law. Not just some of them.
6.We cannot control how the media outlets decide to use the information they are entitled to have.
7.It was a final exam day, open campus, the subjects were not truant and not on school property.
8.The 16 year old that was in the car, his identity was not release per State law because he is a juvenile, the only juvenile in the car.
And lastly, good people make mistakes, sometimes big mistakes with big ramifications. I don’t think it is so much the mistakes we make that defines us, but how we recover for those mistakes. “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” (Alexander Pope)
Chief Peter Hoell