Police report reveals new details on Clemson player’s traffic stop, drug charge
A Clemson football player was driving 15 mph over the speed limit in the early morning hours of July 21 before an officer stopped him, found 15.3 grams of marijuana in his possession and issued him a criminal misdemeanor charge.
That’s according to a town of Central Police Department incident report obtained by The State via public records request on Friday, which reveals new details about an incident involving Tigers defensive lineman Caden Story that happened two weekends ago in the Clemson area.
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney said last week that Story, 20, a redshirt sophomore from Alabama, is a “great kid” and will face internal discipline for the incident, which includes making a mandatory court appearance in Central Municipal Court in September.
Although online court records indicate Story was arrested and the word “arrest” is also used twice in the incident report, Story was not formally arrested and taken to jail as a result of the traffic stop.
He was briefly detained and placed in handcuffs, though, during a probable cause search and was cooperative throughout the stop, according to the report.
New details on incident
The involved officer, Dominick Borrico, wrote in his incident report that he conducted a traffic stop after observing Story’s Chevy Impala traveling at 40 mph in a 25 mph zone at approximately 4:13 a.m. on the morning of July 21 within the town limits of Central, South Carolina.
After pulling over Story for speeding near East Main Street in Central, which is located about 15 minutes from Clemson’s campus in Pickens County, the officer wrote he “could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle and questioned Story on it.”
“He admitted to having some on both his person and in the center console of the vehicle,” the officer wrote.
After Story’s admission, the officer said he asked Story to exit his vehicle, placed Story in handcuffs and told him he was being detained. He then conducted a body search and found 4.4 grams of a “green leaf-like substance” consistent with marijuana in Story’s front left pocket.
After finding the marijuana, Borrico wrote that he placed Story in the back of his police vehicle and conducted a probable cause search of the Clemson player’s Chevy Impala. He found a plastic baggie containing 10.9 grams of substance consistent with marijuana in the center console, as well as tobacco rolling paper and an “altered” Alabama driver’s license featuring Story’s photograph and a modified date of birth.
After completing his search and finding 15.3 combined grams of marijuana in Story’s possession, the officer said he asked Story to step out of his police vehicle (where he was handcuffed in the back seat) and “released him from detention.”
The officer then told Story he was being charged with a first-offense criminal misdemeanor of possessing either 28 grams (1 oz.) or less of marijuana or 10 grams or less of hash, another cannabis product, before ending the traffic stop at 4:45 a.m.
‘He’ll be held accountable’
Although the NCAA last month removed cannabis from its banned substance list for pre-championship drug tests and 24 of 50 U.S. states (plus Washington, D.C.) allow recreational marijuana usage as of 2024, that’s not the case in South Carolina.
In South Carolina, if a person is found guilty of possession of 28 grams or less of marijuana or 10 grams or less of hash, they can be jailed up to 30 days or fined between $100 and $200, according to the S.C. Code of Laws.
News of Story’s charge broke June 21, and Swinney publicly commented on the incident July 23 during the ACC Kickoff preseason media event in Charlotte.
“Well, first of all, the way it was written was like he was handcuffed and taken to jail and that’s not accurate,” Swinney said. “He was issued a ticket, a citation, and so he’ll be held accountable for that and handle the process for that, go to court for that, like the ticket says.”
Story must appear in Central’s municipal court on Sept. 24, per the incident report and online court records, and currently owes $615 fines/costs. He is not suspended from the team and participated in the Tigers’ opening preseason practice Thursday.
“He’s a great kid,” Swinney said. “He’s never been in trouble. Never had an issue with Caden, and we’ll handle it within our team framework.”
Story joined Clemson as a four-star recruit out of Alabama and played 59 snaps across 10 games last year. He projects as a backup defensive end this season.
Story’s charge marks the third publicly known arrest (as denoted in online court records) of a Clemson football player on a criminal misdemeanor or felony charge this calendar year after two other players were arrested in February.
This story was originally published August 2, 2024 at 12:44 PM.
