Foster issues apology for possession citation

By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

UCLA star tailback DeShaun Foster admitted publicly Tuesday
afternoon to being caught with a small container of marijuana.

Foster, UCLA’s leading rusher so far this season, released
a statement describing the incident.

“On the night of July 7, I attended an event at a Thousand
Oaks hotel with several other people. Unknown to me at the time,
one of them had put a container that had marijuana in it in my
car.

“I could not get into the event because I was wearing a
hat. As I left to put the hat in my car, the person to whom it
belonged asked me to get it from the car and bring it back to him.
That was the first time I knew it was in my car.”

The statement went on to say that as Foster reached over to
retrieve the container from the glove compartment, two policemen
approached the car and inquired about the situation.

The police wrote a $250 citation, which Foster later paid by
mail.

“I am sorry for any embarrassment I have caused my family,
coaches and teammates. I have learned a valuable lesson,” the
statement read.

Head coach Bob Toledo said he will not suspend Foster because he
believes this is an isolated incident.

“I know that the marijuana was not his. DeShaun does not
smoke marijuana. He was in the wrong place at the wrong
time,” Toledo said.

Toledo repeatedly stressed that he believed the drugs did not
belong to Foster. “I’ve talked to many of the people
involved, and have no reason not to believe that DeShaun is not
telling the truth.

“Supposedly the guy has even paid DeShaun back.”

In the past two years, safety Audie Attar and running back
Jermaine Lewis have been suspended for getting into a fight.

Last season, UCLA suspended 14 players two games each for their
involvement in the disabled parking placard scandal.

According to Toledo, the general rule is that if you get your
name in a police report, you will be suspended at least one
game.

“My players know. If you get a felony, you’re out of
here. If you get in a fight, you’re suspended for at least
one game. If you steal from one another, you’re gone,”
Toledo said.

“I chose not to suspend DeShaun because I believe that it
was not his marijuana.”

Foster told Toledo about the situation in August, a week before
the first game of the season on Sept. 2 against Alabama.

Rumors of an arrest surfaced in an Orange County Register report
on Aug. 26. Foster denied the arrest, but did not disclose the
information about the citation.

Toledo said that Foster did not want to bring negative attention
to himself or the team.

Foster’s parents came to Westwood to confront DeShaun when
they heard about the incident.

Foster apologized to the team after Wednesday’s
practice.

He is out of action for at least two more weeks with a broken
hand sustained against Arizona State on Sept. 30.