The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bouknight charged in oncampus incident
STORRS — For the third year in a row, UConn is looking at discipline for a key player just before the start of its season.
Freshman James Bouknight has been charged by campus police with evading responsibility, interfering with a police officer, traveling too fast for conditions and operating a motor vehicle without a license, following an oncampus vehicular incident that occurred on Sept. 27. Bouknight turned himself in on an outstanding warrant on Monday, was released on $1,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in Rockville Superior Court on Oct. 29.
According to coach Dan Hurley, Bouknight has already faced inhouse discipline, though he did participate in First Night festivities on Friday, including a few crowdpleasing jams in the slam dunk contest. It hasn’t been determined what type of punishment the Brooklyn, N.Y. product might face once games begin.
“In the end,” Hurley said on Tuesday afternoon, “the biggest fallout is gonna be
the damage to his reputation. The shame, the embarrassment, that he’s caused himself, his family, the program, his teammates — all of us here. James comes from a great family, two great parents that have raised him to make much better choices than he made that night. This is gonna be attached to him in his career for the next several years, minimum. That’s a hard thing. He’s struggling, and he should be. He made some bad choices that night. Thankfully, no one was injured.”
According to a summary of the police report, Bouknight was observed operating a vehicle at a high rate of speed around 1:32 a.m. on Sept. 27 and ultimately collided with a street sign at the intersection of Royce Circle and Wilbur Cross Way.
His car was stopped by officer Gary Bourgoin, and as Bourgoin approached the vehicle, Bouknight began to exit. He was instructed to remain in the vehicle, and stated that he had no identification. As the officer continued to speak with him and again asked for ID, Bouknight proceeded to run from the scene.
Bouknight was eventually located at a residence hall. He provided a sworn, written statement admitting to the actions. It was also determined during the investigation that Bouknight did not have a valid driver’s license.
Hurley said he was aware of the incident the following
day — which also coincided with UConn’s first official practice.
“He’s had to deal with coaches that are really, really down on him for several weeks now,” Hurley noted. “I’m already a tough guy to play for, so compound that with the choices he made that night, and it’s been extremely uncomfortable for him to be in and around the program. But what I’m not a big proponent of is isolating him, based on this situation. He’s been around, and we’ve been incredibly hard for him to deal with.”
Hurley pointed out that this was Bouknight’s first interaction with law enforcement, and that he couldn’t explain why the 6foot4 guard, who arrived at UConn out of MacDuffie School as a national top100 recruit, would flee from the scene of an accident.
“It’s hard for me to put myself in his shoes, having just been in a minor crash in a pole. I don’t imagine you’re thinking very clearly at that stage. It just became one bad decision that led to another bad decision.”
Neither Bouknight nor any other UConn player was made available to the media on Tuesday. In a statement released by the school, Bouknight said: “I was irresponsible and made some foolish choices that I regret. I want to apologize to my family, my coaches, and my teammates for this situation and for creating an unnecessary distraction as we get ready for the upcoming season.
“But I intend to use this experience to learn from my mistakes and make better
life decisions going forward.”
Bouknight is being represented by attorney Rob Britt.
Two years ago, on the eve of the regular season, star junior guard Jalen Adams was arrested following an oncampus incident with a motor scooter. He was charged with “evading responsibility” after leaving the scene of an accident after racing the scooter on campus. Adams was held out of the Huskies’ seasonopening win over Colgate by thenhead coach Kevin Ollie. Ultimately, he was charged with failing to drive in the right lane, and paid a $50 fine.
Last season, Adams and Sidney Wilson were held out of a preseason, closeddoor scrimmage against Harvard due to violations of school policy. Adams returned to action for UConn’s exhibition game against Southern Connecticut, but Wilson was held out of play until for several weeks due to a violation that had occurred the previous season.
“This was very outofcharacter for James,” Hurley continued. “James has been a model studentathlete since he’s been here. I haven’t had a complaint about a lapse of effort in study hall. James is a great kid. What do you do from here? Obviously, he can’t have another situation. He’s got to carry himself with humility, and also strength here, too, in being able to handle this situation and everything that comes with it, and not let it define him.”
The coach added that Bouknight will have to get over criticism on social me
dia, as well as taunting from opposing fans throughout the season.
“You walk in here today to see the type of media attention and social media that this thing has gotten, it definitely will scare you straight,” said Hurley. “And if it doesn’t, then you’re an idiot.”
But Hurley clearly doesn’t believe Bouknight falls in that category.
“I believe in James Bouknight. We got to know him very well during the recruiting process. I’ve got extreme confidence that, from here on out, everything that’s attached to James Bouknight is gonna be really, really positive.”
“He’s a college freshman that’s never had this much freedom in his life,” Hurley continued. “One night, he made some very bad decisions. He’s in a bad way, and he should be. When this is hanging over your head and you know it’s going public at some point, for a couple of weeks, that’s not an easy thing to deal with. He’s been in a very bad place. We’ve been down on him. Our response as a coaching staff is we’re incredibly disappointed in the choices he’s made. It’s affected the way he’s practiced, it’s affected his emotional and mental state. He’s in a bad way, but that’s the state you’re gonna put yourself in when you make bad choices.”
Hurley added: “I think he’ll take this situation and learn from it, grow from it. I think the whole program will.”