Florida State has removed recruit Chuck Kennon from its football program following his arrest on charges stemming from a police pursuit in Tampa, according to the supplied report. The school said he was dismissed for conduct it considered detrimental to the team.
Police said the incident began early Sunday morning when Kennon was traveling 79 mph in a 50-mph zone. Officers approached the vehicle, but the encounter developed into a pursuit in which speeds exceeded 150 mph, the report said, citing UPI.
Kennon was driving a Dodge Durango. After a tire went flat, he allegedly tried to escape on foot and entered an industrial plant. During the search, police found his phone and a woman, described in the report as wearing a bodysuit with dirt, blood and grass on it and having cuts on her arm. She told officers she had asked Kennon more than 10 times to get out of the vehicle, according to the report. The supplied material does not provide her name or further account of her condition.
Kennon turned himself in Monday night and was being held at Falkenburg Road Jail, the report said. Records cited there list three charges: aggravated fleeing to elude, a second-degree felony; false imprisonment, a third-degree felony; and resisting an officer without violence, a misdemeanor. These are charges, not findings of guilt, and the supplied material does not describe any court ruling or response from Kennon.
Before his dismissal, Kennon was ranked as the top recruit in Florida State’s class, the report said. It also identified him as the nation’s sixth-ranked cornerback in his class and the 51st-ranked overall recruit. He chose Florida State after receiving more than 30 offers, according to the report.
The news comes during a difficult stretch for the Seminoles. Florida State had a 3-3 record at the time of the report and was scheduled to play Miami, then ranked No. 3 and unbeaten at 5-0, on Saturday. The report did not provide further details about the program’s response beyond the school’s statement that Kennon was no longer with the team.
