cannabisnews.com: Calhoun Says He'll Stand by El-Amin!





Calhoun Says He'll Stand by El-Amin!
Posted by FoM on April 14, 1999 at 05:05:07 PT
Source: SF Gate
HARTFORD, Conn.Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun says he will stand by sophomore point guard Khalid El-Amin, who will be in court Thursday to answer a misdemeanor drug charge. 
El-Amin, 19, was arrested Tuesday in North Hartford after authorities stopped the late-model red Cadillac he was driving and found a small amount of marijuana in his possession. Another UConn star, All-America junior forward Richard Hamilton, was with El-Amin when he was arrested but was not charged, said police spokesman Lt. Mike Manzi. El-Amin was charged with possession of less than four ounces of marijuana, a misdemeanor. He was also charged with a minor traffic infraction. Calhoun, whose Huskies won their first national championship two weeks ago, issued a statement late Tuesday night saying he is disappointed. He said he would handle the matter internally. ``We are in the business of educating and that is an ongoing process,'' he said. ``I'll stand by Khalid's side as this matter is resolved to help insure that he fully understands his position as a highly visible student-athlete and role model.'' Manzi said arresting officers found the marijuana when they patted down El-Amin after stopping the car when he failed to obey a traffic signal. El-Amin told officers the Cadillac belongs to a fellow student. The arrest came just one day after day after El-Amin returned from Minneapolis where he attended a ceremony at which North High School retired his jersey. El-Amin graduated from North in 1997 after leading the Polar Bears to three consecutive state high school basketball championships. It also occurred just four days before a scheduled downtown parade to celebrate UConn's NCAA championship. Mayor Michael P. Peters has said he expects more than 200,000 fans to line the streets when the Huskies are paraded down Main Street on Saturday morning. There was no word on whether El-Amin, who is hugely popular with Huskies fans, would participate in the parade. El-Amin was arrested at 5:30 p.m. He hustled out of a North End police substation 30 minutes later and was taken to the main police station where he was booked and released on a written promise to appear in Hartford Superior Court on Thursday. Manzi said El-Amin was very polite and told police ``he has never been arrested before.'' If that is the case, he may face only a fine if convicted of the traffic violation. The misdemeanor possession charge would likely be referred to Hartford Community Court, where a conviction would call for community service. Such cases involving a first-time offense generally involve eight hours' community service, officials said. About a dozen teen-agers had gathered at the substation on news of the arrest. They cheered as El-Amin eluded reporters and dived into the back seat of the waiting cruiser. The 5-foot-10 El-Amin helped the Huskies (36-2) to a 77-74 victory over top-ranked Duke in the national championship game on March 29. It was the school's first trip to the Final Four. El-Amin announced last week that he would return to UConn for his junior season rather than make himself eligible for the NBA draft. He has started 71 games and became the third UConn player to score 1,000 points as a sophomore. For the past two seasons, he has averaged 14.9 points and 4.1 assists. He was second on the team in scoring this season at 13.8 points and led the team with 140 assists. El-Amin was voted to the Final Four all-tournament team after scoring 30 points and handing out 10 assists in the wins over Ohio State and Duke. 
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