UPDATE 2:22 p.m.: This article has been updated with details of Carrington’s arrest and updated charges.
Oregon wide receiver Darren Carrington was arrested by Eugene police early Saturday morning on misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, careless driving and an improper right turn. Head coach Willie Taggart has suspended him from the team indefinitely.
Darren Carrington was arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge early July 1, 2017. (Lane County Jail)
Carrington, 22, was arrested at 3:15 a.m. after crashing his Honda Accord into a pole at the McDonalds drive-through on East Broadway and driving away, according to Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin. A call to police was made regarding a possibly intoxicated driver, and an officer observed the vehicle make an improper right turn out of the McDonald’s parking lot. He pulled Carrington over at the intersection of 8th Avenue and Mill Street.
The officer suspected impairment and arrested Carrington for DUII and two other moving violations.
Carrington was booked in Lane County Jail in Eugene at 5:28 a.m. He is scheduled to appear in Eugene Municipal Court for the DUI case on July 21 at 1 p.m.
The 6-foot-2, 186-pound San Diego-native announced in January that he would return to the Ducks to play his senior season under Taggart.
“The University of Oregon has indefinitely suspended student-athlete Darren Carrington from all football team activities after his arrest last night by the Eugene Police Department on a charge of Driving Under the Influence,” Taggart said in a statement. “We are continuing to gather the facts in this matter.”
Carrington had been previously suspended for the Ducks’ national championship game versus Ohio State in January 2015 after testing positive for marijuana on an NCAA-administered drug test.
Carrington has had several run-ins with law enforcement during his time in Eugene.
In October 2016, Carrington was accused of pushing a former UO student to the ground and breaking his arm. The former student, Mike Holland, said Carrington yelled out his name, position, jersey number and hometown after pushing him into the street. Holland went to the hospital for treatment. He said the case was referred to the Lane County District Attorney’s office in November and remains open, but that it “seems to be dead in the water.” He said a detective told him that Eugene police stopped investigating after “Carrington and a few witnesses came forward and corroborated an alibi saying he wasn’t there.”
In September 2015, Eugene police issued Carrington a citation for an open container of alcohol in the early morning after Oregon’s loss to Utah in its Pac-12 opener. According to the police report, he told the arresting officer he did not have a residence and was staying with friends. The officer noted he believed Carrington was being dishonest, and that he had lied about his middle name on a police report from 2013.
In April 2014, Carrington was one of five Oregon football players — Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Dominique Harrison, Oshay Dunmore, Rahim Cassell and Carrington — accused of attempting to steal a UO student’s bike. The student had parked her bike in front of the Dunn Hall dormitory and gone upstairs to retrieve her bike lock. When she returned, she observed a black male adult walking away with her bike and a group of four others laughing. When UOPD arrived on scene, the officer was unable to identify which person in the group took the bike and did not file any charges. The officer referred the case to athletic department professional development coordinator Tom Hart for conduct issues.
In July 2013, a Eugene police officer was dispatched to the apartment where Carrington lived with three other football players — Tyrell Robinson, Tyree Robinson and Chris Seisay — to investigate “a possible sexual assault,” according to a police report. A female UO student told a Eugene police officer that Tyrell Robinson had pressured her into having sex with his brother, Tyree Robinson, and that she was “extremely uncomfortable” and did not do it. She told the officer that all four men were laughing at her and mocking her. Tyree Robinson slapped her on the backside against her will as she tried to leave. The police officer interviewed all four men. Tyrell and Tyree Robinson told him that the woman refused to leave their apartment, and Tyree said he slapped her backside to get her to leave. The officer wrote Tyree Robinson a citation for physical harassment and filed no other charges. The female student declined to comment when the Emerald contacted her about the incident.
UO athletic department did not respond to the Emerald for a comment from Carrington.
Gus Morris contributed reporting to this story.
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