ATHENS — The screeching tires from Trevor Etienne’s high-end Audi sports car at a stop light set the wheels in motion for a traffic stop resulting in his arrest in Athens early Sunday morning.
The Bulldogs acquired Trevor Etienne, the younger brother of former Clemson star and NFL tailback Travis Etienne, through the transfer portal in the offseason.
At the start of spring football camp, Coach Kirby Smart had applauded Trevor Etienne’s hard work and emerging leadership in the Georgia locker room during the offseason training.
Smart addressed Etienne’s arrest at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
“Sometimes kids don’t make the best decisions,” Smart said. “The older you get sometimes the tougher the consequences are for your mistakes. He’s not going to let this mistake define him. He’s embarrassed, upset and knows he made a mistake. It’s a teaching moment, and we hope he gets better from it.”
Smart said that in addition to the school’s policy on arrests, Etienne will be subject to the team’s internal discipline.
An Athens-Clarke County police report recapping the details of Etienne’s traffic stop and arrest was released on Tuesday.
The officer shared how he followed Etienne’s car back to the gates of the “Retreat” apartment complex, where Etienne was questioned and arrested after not consenting to a field sobriety test.
Per the report, at 1:50 a.m., the officer noticed how the 19-year-old Etienne’s gray 2024 Audi RS7 braked hard at the intersection of South Milledge Avenue and Macon Highway. That led the officer to do a U-turn to further observe the car’s behavior.
The RS7 is a high-performance vehicle and has a value of more than $100,000. It can accelerate from 0-to-60 mph in 3 seconds, per a Car and Driver report.
Georgia had a well-documented tragic 2023 offseason involving several traffic violations that Smart publicly acknowledged and worked hard to address. Etienne’s arrest is the first of a Georgia football player on record of this offseason.
The officer reported how, after turning around and traveling south away from campus, he observed the Audi pass another vehicle on a blind curve near Will Hunter Road, crossing over a double yellow line in a section of the road with limited lighting.
The vehicle was traveling at “a high rate of speed,” per the report, leading the officer to activate his emergency lights and sirens in an attempt to make a traffic stop.
The Audi continued on, the officer reporting that he reached “80 to 90 miles per hour,” as he witnessed Etienne cross double yellow lines to pass another vehicle before turning onto Golf Course Road.
The Audi was “accelerating to high speed,” and “went over the yellow median while driving around the curve,” passing parked cars in front of the apartment complex until it came to the entrance gate, per the report.
The gate was closed, and Etienne’s vehicle stopped.
The report states Etienne acknowledged he had been drinking, and stated that he had been coming from downtown with his friends.
The officer states in the report that Etienne said he only drank three beers “way earlier.”
The report details Etienne exhibiting physical behavior that would warrant a field sobriety test, adding that his speech was also slurred.
The officer’s report states that, “based on Etienne’s driving behavior (making maneuvers with poor and reckless judgment), his physical demeanor, and statements in which he admitted to drinking three beers downtown, I arrested him for DUI-Alcohol-Less safe and three other charges… "
Per the Athens-Clarke County jail log, Etienne was booked at 4:35 a.m. on Sunday and released on bond at 5:27 a.m. His bond totaled $1,838.
Georgia spring football continues with a Tuesday practice leading up to the annual G-Day Game, which takes place on April 13.
Etienne is expected to be a pivotal figure in a Georgia offense led by co-Heisman Trophy favorite Carson Beck
