GREAT MOMENTS IN SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Man accused of driving without a license appears in court — while driving.
A man accused of driving without a licence dialled into his remote court hearing in Michigan from behind the wheel of a car.
Corey Harris, 44, appeared before the dumbfounded courtroom from his moving vehicle despite being charged with driving on a suspended licence.
Washtenaw County Judge Cedric Simpson looked confused as the defendant joined the virtual Zoom hearing, asking him: “Mr Harris, are you driving?”
The defendant replied: “I’m pulling into my doctor’s office actually,” before casually turning the steering wheel and saying he would be ready in “one second”.
Whoops:
Man driving while suspended, has a zoom court session about driving while suspended.
And now, looks like he catching another violation 😅🤣😂
🔊 … watch what the judge does at the end pic.twitter.com/E2KnuGdG7g
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) May 29, 2024
UPDATE: The Viral Story About a Defendant Driving With a Suspended License Was Fake News.
It turns out all those stories, however, were based on a falsehood. Harris’ license had been reinstated years prior and was only registering as suspended due to a clerical error. As of this writing, there has been no spate of additional articles, corrections, or a reinvigorated news cycle based around this information, because the truth here doesn’t lend itself to virality and engagement.
That’s a good indication that this never should have been a national story to begin with, which would be true even if Harris had been driving on a suspended license. A man in Michigan driving allegedly when he wasn’t supposed to is not newsworthy enough to deserve coverage in the most influential outlets in the U.S. (and beyond). Good for a social media laugh? Sure. Justifying its own news cycle? No.
To be fair though, as Ed Morrissey writes, “Clearly the judge thought he wasn’t supposed to be driving, and this still doesn’t negate one reason the story went viral: the man was driving while calling in on Zoom. Certainly that was worth a smirk or two along the way.”