Clemson football player DeMonte Capehart was initially pulled over for “spinning (his) tires” and “accelerating to a high rate of speed” on campus before police discovered a 9 mm rifle, which Capehart said did not belong to him, in the trunk of his car during a consensual search. That’s according to a Clemson University Police Department report released to The State that revealed further details surrounding Capehart’s arrest earlier this month on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm on school property and failure to exercise due care while driving a motor vehicle. Capehart, a redshirt senior defensive tackle on the Tigers football team, was away from the program and not participating in team activities as of Feb. 14, according to the Clemson athletic department. Clemson starts spring practice next week.
“We have been aware of the facts of the case from the start, and he is not presently participating in team activities while awaiting completion of all legal and university processes,” Clemson athletics said in a statement last week. According to the CUPD report, obtained by The State via public records request, Capehart was initially stopped by university police on Feb. 6, 2024, around 8:17 p.m. for spinning the car’s tires and accelerating to a “high rate of speed” in a 25 mph zone on campus in a 2021 Dodge Charger. During a traffic stop conducted in the parking lot of Clemson’s tennis facility at 188 Old Greenville Highway, an officer wrote that “while searching for his vehicle information, Capehart opened his glove box, revealing a loaded magazine with what appeared to be small caliber rounds” for a firearm, according to the police report.
