• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

UCLA KICKER

Photo

UCLA GOLFER

UCLA football kicker Justin Medlock was suspended indefinitely after he was arrested early Saturday morning and booked under felony charges of driving under the influence and hit and run.

Medlock, 22, will not play in UCLA’s bowl game on Dec. 30 or participate in football practice leading up to the game, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said in a statement. The redshirt junior could also face fines and possible jail time.

Medlock suffered minor injuries from the one-car accident.

Hannah Jun, a member of the UCLA women’s golf team and the lone passenger in Medlock’s car, was taken to the UCLA Medical Center where she was treated for “very severe” spinal cord injuries, said Lynne Blum, a California Highway Patrol sergeant.

According to UCLA sports information director Marc Dellins, Jun is expected to make a full recovery.

Dellins said he could not release further details of Jun’s injury because of medical privacy laws.

As of Sunday night, it was unclear whether the Bruin junior golf player would be able to compete for the women’s golf team this season, which starts Feb. 13. Calls to UCLA women’s golf coach Carrie Forsyth were not immediately returned.

Medlock was transported to the Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles at 7:40 a.m. Saturday, where he was booked on felony charges. He was released on $100,000 bail at 8:58 p.m. Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Web site.

Medlock is now scheduled for a Jan. 3, 2006 court date at Inglewood Municipal Court, where he could face charges filed by the district attorney’s office, pending an investigation.

“(Medlock) understands the high standards with which we expect our players to represent the program and has always met those standards,” said Dorrell in the statement. “Justin apologized to me and wanted me to express his apologies to his teammates.

“He made a mistake and he understands that there are penalties when a player violates our rules.”

The single-car accident occurred at 2:52 a.m. Saturday, and the CHP arrived about five minutes later, Blum said.

Medlock’s car, a 1998 Toyota Tacoma, veered off Interstate 405 North, struck a call box on the Manchester off-ramp near LAX, flipped over and came to rest on its roof.

Witnesses told CHP officers that Medlock walked away from the accident before officers arrived on the scene. Medlock was arrested almost an hour later by the Inglewood Police Department near the intersection of Florence and Inglewood avenues, about one and a half miles from the scene of the accident, Blum said.

The Bruin football player was “coherent” and “cooperative” when police found him, said CHP investigating officer Dale Horne.

Medlock was taken to Freeman Hospital in Inglewood where he was treated for minor injuries, including a swollen left eye, a cut lip and chest pain.

CHP officers determined that Medlock was intoxicated and took blood samples to determine his blood alcohol percentage, Blum said. Results were not immediately made available.

Jun was treated immediately Saturday morning for spinal and vertebrae injuries, specifically to the neck.

CHP officers who arrived on the scene found Jun “half in, half out” of the car and apparently trying to climb out the window, Blum said.

Jun, 20, was coherent and voiced concern for Medlock when CHP officers arrived. Blum said Jun appeared to have full range of motion of her limbs and did not appear to be intoxicated.

Jun is a returning junior and two-year starter on a UCLA women’s golf team that won the national championship in 2004 and finished in second place in 2005. Jun had recently qualified for the Futures Tour, the second-tier women’s professional golf tour in the United States.

Medlock’s arrest and suspension is the most serious offense under Dorrell, who has been credited with cleaning up the Bruins’ tarnished off-the-field image since arriving in Westwood in 2003.

A year ago as a sophomore, Medlock, who has aspirations of playing in the NFL, was selected first-team All-Pac-10 by the conference’s coaches after making 15 of 20 field goals.

This season, Medlock is 13-of-17 on his field goal attempts, and moved up to No. 5 on UCLA’s all-time made field goals list.

This will be the second consecutive season in which Dorrell has been forced to resolve a discipline-related issue before his team’s bowl game.

Last year before UCLA’s Las Vegas Bowl appearance against Wyoming, Dorrell sent seniors Benjamin Lorier and Eyoseph Efseaff home early after they arrived intoxicated to a team meeting.

Medlock’s suspension for UCLA’s Sun Bowl date with Northwestern in El Paso, Texas, will likely leave the Bruin coach with freshman punter Aaron Perez and freshmen walk-ons Brian Mallete and Jimmy Rotstein to handle kicking duties.