Smith hid OVI arrest in 2013
Fired OSU receivers coach pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charge.
The attorney for COLUMBUS —
Zach Smith said the former Ohio State assistant coach did not tell football coach Urban Meyer about his 2013 arrest for speeding and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Smith was charged and later pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor OVI charge. He was issued a three-day suspended jail sentence and had his driving rights suspended for 180 days except for getting to and from his job. The speeding charge — 67 mph in a 50 zone — was dismissed.
The OVI conviction was first reported by the Toledo newspaper, The Blade, on Monday.
At 2:43 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2013, Dublin police stopped Smith at State Route 257 and Summit View Road.
According to Smith’s attorney, Bradley Koffel, Smith did not inform Meyer about the arrest.
If he didn’t, that appears to be a violation of Ohio State policy. According to the university’s self-disclosure of criminal convictions guidelines, OSU employees are required to self-disclose within three business days criminal convictions to the office of human resources.
“He never told Coach Meyer nor did Coach Meyer even learn of this (until today most likely),” Koffel told The Dispatch in an email. “Much like the criminal trespass
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case (involving Smith and his ex-wife, Courtney), Zach chose to deal with it on his own and not involve the university or athletic depart- ment.”
Zach Smith is facing a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge stemming from a May disagreement about where he dropped off the couple’s son.
In the 2013 case, Koffel said Zach Smith was asleep at home with his now ex-wife, Courtney, when a friend, Kevin Curtis, called him because he was intoxi- cated and asked for a ride. Koffel said Smith had been drinking earlier in the evening at dinner with Courtney and “felt fine to drive many hours later.”
According to the Dublin police report obtained by The Dispatch, Smith’s eyes were red and glassy when he was stopped and that the police officer could smell a strong odor of alcohol from Smith. Smith refused a breath test and was later handcuffed, searched and transported to the Dublin Justice Center. He was released at 4:20 a.m. to his father.
Smith was fired on July 23 by Meyer after six seasons on the Buckeyes’ coaching staff.