The female student who accused Florida Gators freshman quarterback Treon Harris of sexual battery on Monday has withdrawn her complaint four days later, and the player has subsequently had his school suspension lifted.
“The University of Florida has informed the University Athletic Association that the sexual battery complaint has been withdrawn, and the university is not proceeding with any action,” UF spokesperson Janine Sikes said in a statement released to OnlyGators.com late Friday afternoon.
The University of Florida provided the following statement to OnlyGators.com earlier in the afternoon, announcing the Harris’s accuser had rescinded her sexual battery claim:
The student who accused Treon Harris of sexual battery has withdrawn her criminal complaint. This means she is not pursuing criminal charges against him at this time but maintains the right to do so in the future.
The police report will be released when it is available.
The UAA will have more information on his football status later in the day.
The university always will take swift and decisive action when we have concerns about the safety of our students.
The University Athletic Association has yet to announce a decision on Harris’s playing status with the Gators, but a decision will likely come before the day is out.
An investigation against Harris for an alleged felony sexual battery charge began early Monday morning when a call was made from Springs Residential Complex on campus at 12:49 a.m.
About 12 hours later, Florida confirmed that Harris had been accused of the crime, noting that the UFPD and Gainesville Police Department were investigating and in the process of collecting forensic evidence. Harris was immediately and indefinitely suspended from all team activities. He was later given an interim suspension from the school for a potential code of conduct violation.
Harris was neither arrested nor charged with a crime, but he immediately began cooperating with the investigation after retaining attorney Huntley Johnson. The UFPD and GDP spent hours collecting material from Harris’s dorm room, and Harris also turned over his cellular telephone to police.
The UFPD released a completely-redacted incident report on Wednesday.
Thursday, Johnson sent an aggressive and thorough press release to the media, claiming his client was “not guilty of a crime” and “did not mistreat this young lady in any way.” Furthermore, Johnson referred to the alleged victim as the “sexual aggressor” in not one but two separate sexual interactions that occurred Sunday morning.
Harris’s brother, Tim “Ice” Harris Jr., the head football coach at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Florida, tweeted the following after Johnson released his statement.
Thank god! Love my family. #Harris #F5
— Tim Harris JR. (@IceHarris) October 10, 2014
Treon Harris posted the following on Instagram shortly thereafter.
This is from #Gators QB Treon Harris' Instagram just a short while ago. pic.twitter.com/ec84SFPLei
— Landon Watnick (@LandonWatnick) October 10, 2014
OnlyGators.com will be updating this story.
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Will be glad when all of this is over with. Thanks for all the great coverage Adam! Now we can get back to sports. Hopefully REAL victims do speak up when things like this does happen. Go Gators!
Im glad for Treon and his family. The timing of this whole thing smells bad to me.
as previously above “I am super happy for Mr Harris”. Keep up the good work and don’t give up. Football is very important to all, however your future is more than that. God bless you.
There remains an almost endless variety of possible explanations for what/why/how this has happened. We’ve heard the Harris version. Still haven’t and may never hear the other side of the story.
Before some of you go crazy, my hope has always been and continues to be that Harris is innocent (which is different from “not guilty”).
I’m glad for the young man. But this is so strange.
I’m happy for Treon and his family as well, however….
I’m going to save my judgement for when the University finishes it’s investigation and the police report is released with a little less redactions. The victim could have easily caved under pressure to not continue with her complaint. We don’t really know yet.
Hopefully, Treon is vindicated and the stigma is removed, but until a couple things happen….we don’t know yet
This is correct response.
I just hope the truth comes out.
If Treon is innocent then I feel really bad for him.
If he did do something wrong then I hope he is punished and that she didn’t cave because of pressure.
We may never know the whole story but like others have said the timing of this stinks. If Harris is innocent I hope he is fully vindicated. If not I Hopis prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In addition if this young lady made up the story then I hope she’s prosecutor for providing false statements to the police. This is just my humble opinion.
Just because he’s not been proven or charged does not mean he did nothing wrong. In very very slim cases do female victims claim these things when they did not actually happen. Before everyone gets all happy and thankful and making him into a victim let’s all think about those points. For a fellow student athlete to make those accusations and put her career at stake over a false claim isn’t likely.
In very very slim cases do female victims claim these things when they did not actually happen.
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Having been on the receiving end of a false accusation back in my younger days as a local business owner, I think you need to get out more. Women are more than happy to do these things, especially when Internet White Knights line up to defend them without a second of thought.
I am totally suprised that this young lady’s name has not gotten out yet. With the number of football players and other students that know who she is and the way info travels SO FAST these days its really unbelievable that it hasnt.
It’s not important who she is…and plenty of people know her name already.
Adam – how come he cannot participate in team activities while the Title 9 investigation goes on? Is this a university policy or NCAA policy? Shouldn’t the same thing be happening for Winston right now seeing as how that investigation has taken over a year and is still on going?
University policy, I believe.