When Georgia Southern University quarterback Shai Werts was pulled over for speeding on Highway 39 (a.k.a. Campus Highway) in Saluda, SC on July 31, he ended up also being arrested for cocaine possession. No, Werts wasn't searched and found to have coke on his person or in the car. The officer decided that a white substance on the hood of his car was cocaine.
Here's how the exchange went:
Officer: “What’s that white stuff on your hood, man?”
Werts: “Bird shit."
Officer: “That ain’t bird shit.”
Werts: “I promise you, that’s bird doo doo.”
Officer: “I promise you, it’s not though.”
Werts: “I swear to God, that’s bird doo doo.”
Officer: “I swear to God, it’s not. I just tested it and it turned pink."
Werts: "I have no realize to lie about this. I play football. I don't do cocaine."
Listen to the police's dashcam audio below.
Werts, who is African American, was arrested and detained by the Saluda County Sheriff's Office. He was bonded out of jail the next day.
At first, Georgia Southern head coach Chad Lunsford suspended Werts, but when the starting QB passed a drug test, he was allowed to practice with the team at the the school's Statesboro, GA campus.
On August 8, the cocaine charge against Werts was dropped when it was revealed by Al Eargle, deputy solicitor for the 11th Judicial Circuit in South Carolina, "that the test did come back and there was no controlled substance found.
“As prosecutors, it’s quite simple," he explained. "We view a case as it relates to a courtroom and what our burden of proof is, and that is beyond a reasonable doubt. After I extensively looked at everything that law enforcement presented to me, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t meet that burden of proof.”
Werts has yet to receive an apology from the Saluda Country Sheriff's Office.
The junior will be starting his third year as Georgia Southern's signal caller. He was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team by Pro Football Focus in 2018.
