June 10, 2013

Trouble Brewing in Chapel Hill?

By - David Dysart

Meet P.J. Hairston, a 2010 North Carolina 5-star recruit out of Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia. He had an abysmal freshmen year for the Tar Heels, but came back strong in his sophomore season, averaging 14.7 ppg, 4.4 boards, and shooting 39.5% from behind the arc.

Photo by: Kevin Hu
Many believed Hairston would declare for the NBA Draft, but he decided to return for his junior year. Many also believed that his and James McAdoo's return would help lure high school phenom Andrew Wiggins to Chapel Hill. However, this was not the case, as Wiggins took his talents to Kansas to take Ben McLemore's spot at shooting guard for Bill Self's squad.

Still, Roy Williams and company seemed to be in good position for an ACC run this season, since two of the team's primary stars were returning to the lineup.

That was until last Wednesday night, anyway.

According to the incident report, police stopped P.J. Hairston and two passengers at 10:20 that evening during a license checkpoint at 1499 Holloway Street in Durham, North Carolina. During the stop, officers discovered marijuana, a 9mm handgun, a magazine with nine rounds of ammunition, plastic baggies, three cigars and a rental car agreement.

All three were arrested and charged with drug possession, and Hairston was also charged with driving without a license. He is due to appear in court on August, 6th.

None of these young men are over the age of 25, and none of them have the legal ability to rent a car, let alone a 2013 Yukon. It's also doubtful that any of them hold a job to be able to pay for said car to begin with, or even the marijuana, which obviously isn't free.

So how did they rent the vehicle? Whose name was it in? Why does Hairston not have a valid license? With the strict new gun laws in the state of North Carolina, what is going to come of this?

Should be interesting to watch it all unfold.

Coach Roy Williams knows about the arrest, as does the university's athletic director, Bubba Cunningham. In a statement, UNC Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications Steve Kirschner said, "We're currently trying to gather all the facts. It may take some time to do so."

Needless to say, this reeks of NCAA sanctions to come. If the two passengers roll over on Hairston, and the gun is found to have been in his possession, he will have a felony weapons charge on his record. That is something not even Plaxico Burress could get out of, and he has a Super Bowl ring in the city his incident transpired in.

And of course, there's still the questions surrounding the rental car and drugs. Could the school be tied to the vehicle? What about the money used to rent it? For now, this is all speculation, but in this day and age, nothing is out of the realm of possibility.

In any event, luck be with you, Mr. Hairston. By the looks of it, you're going to need it.

2 comments:

  1. I think Roy may be on the hot seat.

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  2. It wont go to trial til after season anyway. Gun was found outside vehicle. No forensic evid saying it was his. Hes guilty of driving his boys to get weed. Theyl take the charge anyway and pj will pay them with his nba $$

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