A Michigan man with a suspended driver’s license joined a digital court hearing about his case from behind the wheel of a vehicle he was driving.
Corey Harris did not physically appear in court for his hearing on May 15. Instead, he dialed into the Zoom call — while he was driving, according to video of the hearing posted on Washtenaw County Judge Cedric Simpson’s YouTube page.
Simpson asked Harris whether he was driving when he joined the hearing. He told Simpson that he was pulling into a parking spot at his doctor’s office and would be ready for the hearing in “one second.”
After a brief pause and Simpson’s confirming Harris was “stationary,” the attorney representing Harris, Natalie Pate, who was in court that day, asked for an adjournment of two to four weeks.
“OK, so maybe I don’t understand something,” Simpson said after having appeared to review the case in front of him. “This is a driving while license suspended?”
Pate confirmed he was looking at a case involving driving without a license.
“And he was just driving? And he doesn’t have a license?” Simpson asked.
“Those are the charges, yes,” Pate said, but Simpson quickly replied: “No, I’m looking at his record. He doesn’t have a license. He’s suspended, and he’s just driving.”
Pate, again, confirmed the judge was correct.
Simpson then looked around the courtroom, taking a long pause, an incredulous smile on his face.
He then looked up and said, “I don’t even know why he would do that,” referring to Harris, who was still on the Zoom call from his car.
Simpson then revoked Harris’ bond and instructed him to turn himself into the Washtenaw County Jail by that evening.
Harris dropped his head back and said, “Oh, my God.”
It was not immediately clear whether Harris had turned himself in as Simpson requested.
A representative for the court said the judge does not comment on pending cases. Pate could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
