OT: Emoni Bates in Jail
Looks like it's potential felony gun charges. This is sad for the kid.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
Sad to hear. Always hate to hear this about a once-promising young athlete
September 19th, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
Sad indeed. Hope he gets his life straightened out.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
His future is definitely trending the wrong way. All time falls from grace
September 19th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Glad the posts/rumors/speculation from a few months ago about him coming here never materialized.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
I mean, I get what you're saying, but it's hard to think like that and not just be really sad for the kid. Also, there's a chance that Juwan's evaluation of Emoni's personality and potential was a success here. Either way, it's tough when you see such a bright future start to slip away. And maybe a lesson for those watching.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
also, maybe there would've been a chance that juwan would've been a good influence on him, and he wouldn't be in jail right now.
emoni clearly needs a good mentor in his life.
September 19th, 2022 at 2:05 PM ^
I thought he had a father. He should be the mentor & role model.
September 19th, 2022 at 3:05 PM ^
Some of us aren't so lucky when it comes to fathers
September 19th, 2022 at 6:21 PM ^
His father is a big reason Emoni has flamed out. Made a lot of bad decisions for him
September 19th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
The situation is sad, but I'm not sad for him. He made extremely poor decisions and is paying for them. Hopefully this is a wakeup call and he can use this experience to grow as a man.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
The kid has had a toxic inner circle and has been surrounded by morons ever since he’s been in the spotlight. A damn shame that it’s come to this.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
You need to evaluate the player and his posse. Plenty of kids can't play thru it.
Hernandez at Fla. was one but it eventually caught up to him. I hope Bates can get thru it.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
I always thought it was a bad idea for him to come back to Ypsilanti.
September 19th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
Nothing good happens in Ypsilanti after 8pm
September 20th, 2022 at 8:06 AM ^
They can't blame it on the beer-battered fried pickles at Sidetrack.
September 20th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
He should do just the opposite--go to the other end of the country, focus on basketball, and tell his family and 'friends' to stay the F home.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
His life is playing out like a child TV star. Soon he'll be providing commentary with Tonya Harding on one of those home video shows they play on Tru tv
September 19th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
He's 18, he can own a gun. If possessing a gun in your car is a crime I bet a lot of Michiganders would be in jail.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
He can’t own a handgun at 18 not sure if it was a handgun or long gun here but the part about the gun having altered serial number is serious and points to this being an illegal firearm having been used in criminal activity. Altering serial numbers on any firearm is a federal crime.
September 19th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Slight nit-pick, you can own a handgun at 18, you can't buy one from a licensed dealer, but can get one through private sales and gifts. Michigan has a law that a handgun in the passenger compartment, unless properly stowed (unloaded and cased), counts as concealed carry, which you need to be 21 to be licensed for. But yeah, scratching out a S/N is a serious no-no.
September 19th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
Didn’t realize that in Michigan. In the state I reside in (Connecticut) all gun transfers must go through a licensed dealer and must have a transaction number obtained from the state police licensing unit.
September 20th, 2022 at 2:50 PM ^
Filing the SN is super dumb considering filing down the number will still have etchings in the metal. It’s very difficult to do properly and you’re kind of just handing the cops a charge there for no reason.
September 22nd, 2022 at 2:58 PM ^
There is also zero legal reason to do so.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
^guy who didn’t bother to read the article (San Diego wolverine)
September 19th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Key words are "concealed" and "altering."
September 19th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
Wrong about literally everything. It’s impressive, almost
September 19th, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
I've got some friends who also see a headline (sometime just a meme!), then leap to their "fact based" conclusion without ever reading anything about it. And they tell me they're never wrong. It is incredibly impressive to be able to live like that.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
You are right that he can legally own a gun at 18, but the problem is it was "concealed" in his car. What also isn't know is if that was his gun. Odds are it wasn't due to the attempt to alter the serial number. Also, there is a legal way to transport a gun in your vehicle. He obviously didn't do that and that was on purpose.
This isn't a good look for the kid because you can't just chalk this up to "we all do stupid things when we are young" excuse. How many on here did what he did? I doubt anyone has and those who are knowledgeable on guns and are "responsible" gun owners know you don't do what this kid did because it is illegal to do.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Court records show he is charged with two felonies – one for carrying a concealed weapons and one for altering ID marks on a weapon.
Bro...you are going to ruin your life being an idiot. You may already be there
September 19th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Wow. Here's hoping he can get back on the straight and narrow and evaluate who and what are best for him. Stuff like this goes beyond the sports; who he is as a person is way more important.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
he is highly likely to be able to get past this, if he wants to, and i don't mean in some 'cheating' way. since he's under 22 (and 25 in some cases) here in michigan he is eligible for what is called HYTA - an acronym for Holmes Youthful Trainee Act treatment. he pleads guilty, the case becomes a non-public record, and if he can keep his nose clean for, depending on the judge, a year the case goes away like it never happened.
how many of us were fools at 18? that certainly would include me and probably all of us. i get that he is surrounded by fools, but let's hope the kid can figure this one out and not get something on his record that might truly haunt him the rest of his life.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
I believe that slot receiver and Ninja route runner Grant Perry took advantage of the HYTA to pay for grabbing some girl's keester in a line to get into a bar (or dance club) in East Landfill. Remember he sat out damn near an entire season for that...
September 19th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
I got the HYTA when I got an MIP in Mary Markley (really glad we had a resident cop living there to dole those out). Thanks, Student Legal Services!
September 19th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Let's hope is defense team and paint it as being foolish at 18 but I think this is going to be a bigger problem for him, unless he has friends in high political places in Michigan that will help him plea down.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
Carrying a handgun with an altered serial number goes way beyond being merely a fool at age 18.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
i can tell you i literally never charged anyone with that (altered number) since in most firearms the serial numbers aren't all that noticeable unless you are looking for them. it sounds a lot more nefarious than it is.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
It's not an uncommon charge in Georgia with stolen firearms.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
I assume only if he's smart enough to take advantage of it as part of a plea deal.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:40 PM ^
Yes. But my foolishness at 18 was bringing a bottle of Ripple to a Michigan football game. (They didn't check bags in 1969.) This appears to be of a somewhat higher degree of foolishness.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
i don't know man, drinking ripple is felony stupid. kidding aside, i agree that gun is problematic, but when i was a teenager crewing on ships on the detroit river front and driving down there in the middle of the night it's possible i might have had something under my seat that wasn't within the rules, either. ypsi isn't detroit in the late '70's, but kids can do stuff that looks a lot worse than it really is.
September 19th, 2022 at 4:03 PM ^
The Holmes Youthful Trainee Act has been relevant to a good number of Michigan and Michigan State football players.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
man, i hate this. i hope he figures things out.
just a reminder that all of us did incredibly stupid things and had surpassingly bad judgement when we were his age. the difference is that we were lucky enough to do our stupids far, FAR from the spotlight. give the kid a break.
September 19th, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
Just a reminder that most of us (ie: the vast majority of us) have never done anything this stupid before.
I hope the kid gets his life straightened out, he's too young to be in so much trouble. But he has to make some serious life changes first, and I'm not sure he will. We'll know just as soon as he dumps the idiots he's got hanging around him...
September 19th, 2022 at 3:04 PM ^
agree 100%.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
Edit: Bad take is bad. Don't presume everyone else on here was as evil as you apparently were at 18. Most of us would not have possessed a weapon with altered serial numbers because most of us are not planning on murdering anyone. I'm scared that you think that is normal behavior for an 18 year old.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
Bad take is bad. Jumping to conclusions that he was planning on murdering someone.
September 19th, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
If you have a handgun for self defense (and aren't a felon with restricted gun rights) you would have a legally purchased gun with un-altered serial numbers. The only reason to ever posses an illegally modified handgun is if you plan on using it in the commission of a crime. So you are right, perhaps he only planned on using the "threat of murder" to commit a crime rather than actually murdering someone.
September 19th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
This is assuming that he was acting fully rationally here, which teenagers do not always do.
It could that someone offered him the gun, without telling him the numbers were altered, and he accepted it without a second thought.
September 19th, 2022 at 3:03 PM ^
lol, no.
September 19th, 2022 at 3:12 PM ^
Listen, I would agree with you if your argument had been something like:
"we were lucky enough that our stupid decisions were a product of the more stable environment we were raised in" or something to that effect. That statement implies empathy for the altered decision making process someone raised like Emoni might have. However, your statement actually implies that you made decisions of similar magnitude, but due to a lack of spotlight, you were able to escape judgement (and of course, you cast those aspersions on the rest of us as well).