Freshman accused of cheating
Former Tucker standout Kearney involved in exam fracas
By CHIP TOWERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/22/05
ATHENS — Georgia linebacker Tavares Kearney, a freshman from Tucker High, faces possible expulsion from the university after a teacher accused him of cheating on an exam and simple battery.
The battery charge, filed against Kearney by instructor Dawn Penn, was dropped Wednesday, according to an incident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the University of Georgia Police Department. However, it is possible Kearney could still face disciplinary action from the school's student judiciary panel on that charge.
Kearney has since withdrawn from the course. He has returned to his home in Atlanta, according to a Georgia spokesman. His eligibility is uncertain pending the outcome of the university's judicial process.
A copy of the incident report was forwarded to Georgia athletics director Damon Evans and coach Mark Richt, but neither would discuss specifics of the case or whether additional internal discipline would be forthcoming.
According to the police report, Penn suspected Kearney of using his cellphone camera to cheat on a nutrition exam during summer classes at Dawson Hall last Friday. Penn, a 27-year-old graduate student charged with overseeing the exam, accidentally distributed copies of the answer key to one of the four versions of the test. After a student pointed it out, Penn asked students with "Form A" to return the answer sheets, known as "scantrons."
Penn left the classroom to get the correct copies of the test and returned to redistribute them. During the exam, Penn noticed students "crowded together" around Kearney and that Kearney "glanced at me several times," which made her suspicious, according to her statement.
When Kearney walked up to the stage of the auditorium classroom to turn in his test, Penn stated she noticed his cellphone was on. She walked behind him and noticed an image of the "bubbled scantron" she'd accidentally distributed earlier. Penn asked him for his cellphone. Shortly after handing the phone over, Kearney asked for it back.
When Penn refused, Kearney allegedly grabbed the woman's left hand, which contained the phone, squeezed it hard and twisted her wrist.
The pain, Penn alleges in the report, caused her to let go of the phone, which dropped to the floor. Kearney grabbed it, then left the room.
Kearney, who earned the nickname "TKO" for knocking quarterbacks out of games, stands 6 feet 1 and weighs 210 pounds; Penn is listed in the report at 5-5, 120.
During the alleged altercation, Penn stated, Bulldogs senior defensive end Will Thompson approached Kearney and told him to "chill, relax and let go." Penn praised Thompson, one of at least five other football players enrolled in the class, for helping to defuse the situation.
In her statement to police, Penn said she was not interested in pursuing criminal charges against Kearney but said he "is a football player and she fears that her ongoing pursuit of an academic honesty investigation . . . may lead to retaliation by Kearney or one of his friends."
Thompson asked Penn what might happen to Kearney. "I guess Georgia is really going to suffer a loss," Penn recounted in her statement. "I also told him Tavares Kearney has a lot more to worry about other than cheating. I said cheating was one issue but grabbing me was another."
In her initial interview with police Monday night, Penn said she did not want to "ruin [Kearney's] life" but hoped "his actions were more of a lack of maturity than a tendency toward violence."
Repeated attempts to contact Penn, Kearney and his mother, Atlanta radio personality Wanda Smith, were unsuccessful.
According to the school's code of conduct, a student found guilty of a first offense for academic dishonesty faces a minimum penalty of a grade of "F" in the course, an academic dishonesty notation on his transcript while enrolled, a one-semester suspension other than summer, or permanent expulsion.
"The matter is in the hands of the proper representatives of the university," Evans said. "There is a procedure they will follow and I don't think it is appropriate to comment until that process is completed."
Said Richt: "As is the case with any student, the university has a process in place to address the situation. It's my intent to withhold comment until that process has been exercised."
If Kearney is unable to compete for Georgia this fall, he'll become the seventh member of the 19-player incoming class to miss the season. Five others did not meet academic requirements and a sixth, Antavious Coates, suffered a season-ending knee injury this summer.
Three returning players have been suspended for the season opener against Boise State following offseason arrests. A fourth, Derrick White, was kicked off the team after being arrested on a DUI charge. And junior fullback Des Williams is out for the season after tearing a chest muscle.
