Charges against UF senior football player Earl A. "Tony" Joiner were dropped late this morning.
State Attorney's Office spokesman Spencer Mann said the office reviewed the Gainesville Police Department case report, contacted the victim, and filed a no info. A no info means the charge is dropped and the case is closed.
A press release from the UF sports information department did not say if Joiner would play in Saturday's game against Louisiana State University, but he will travel with the team.
"Tony is no longer a captain of the Gator football team and he will pay a heavy price for his behavior internally for the next four weeks," UF football coach Urban Meyer said in a press release. "He will travel with the team for our game versus LSU."
Joiner was arrested early Tuesday morning for attempting to retrieve his girlfriend's car from Watson?s Towing, where it was being held for ,76.
Mann said the victim, Stan Forron, the manager of the property, is adamant that he suffered no loss or damage. The victim does not want to pursue criminal charges and based on that the State Attorney?s Office cannon sustain a criminal charge, he said.
While originally Mann had indicated his office would not expedite Joiner's case, he said he was forced to change speed because he had many people from sports media contacting him everyday. He said some people were calling him three or four times a day about the case.
"It was taking time away from a murder trial," he said. "It was taking time away from a plea change in the death of a police officer. We had to change our time frame because it was impacting business with far greater consequences."
Forron said Mann got in touch with him yesterday about the charges.
"I told him there was no reason for the charges to be there," Forron said.
