Emoni Bates, EMU basketball star and former top recruit, arrested on gun charge
Emoni Bates, current basketball player at Eastern Michigan and former top recruit with Memphis, was arrested in Michigan on Sunday night following a traffic stop and arraigned Monday morning on at least one gun charge.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Bates was stopped by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office on Sunday evening at 10:43 after he failed to stop at an intersection. The police said they located a gun in the car during the investigation and arrested Bates, who was held in jail until Monday morning when he was released on personal bond.
The Associated Press reported that Bates is being charged with carrying a concealed weapon and altering identification marks on a firearm, but only the concealed weapon charge has been confirmed by local law enforcement.
Steve Haney, Bates' lawyer, spoke to ESPN's Pete Thamel and claimed that Bates was not driving his own car when he was pulled over.
Spoke to Steve Haney, lawyer for Emoni Bates. He told ESPN that Bates arrest last night came after a routine traffic stop when he was driving a borrowed car that had a gun in.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 19, 2022
Haney told ESPN: “Reserve judgement on this. There’s way more to the story. He borrowed someone’s car, was pulled over and a gun was located in the car.”
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 19, 2022
If Bates was driving someone else's car when he was pulled over, that's a pretty big development. He's next due in court on Oct. 6 for a probable cause hearing.
Bates' winding journey to Eastern Michigan
Bates, 18, was once the No. 1 basketball recruit in the country. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and drew comparisons to Kevin Durant and LeBron James in the first few years of high school. Bates left high school after three years to attend Memphis (though not without committing and de-committing from Michigan State first) and made his NCAA debut in 2021.
He was supposed to be a breakout talent at Memphis. Instead he struggled, looking like a shadow of the explosive player he'd been in high school. He ended up missing two months due to a back injury, and ended the season having played just 18 games and averaging 9.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from deep.
Bates surprisingly entered the transfer portal in April, and announced in June he was transferring to Eastern Michigan University, which is located in his hometown of Ypsilanti.
Eastern Michigan released a short statement about Bates' arrest.
"We are aware of a situation involving one of our student athletes. Eastern Michigan University takes all allegations very seriously. We are working to gather more details and will have further comment when more information is available."
