Corey Harris attracted widespread news coverage—including from Reason—when a video showed him behind the wheel during a court hearing about a suspended license. Except he never had a license at all.
The topsy-turvy legal odyssey concerning a Michigan man’s driving privileges, which has captivated the nation, took another turn yesterday when he reappeared in court not long after a video showed him behind the wheel of a car while he Zoomed into a hearing that was allegedly for driving with a suspended license charge.
“This is for driving on a license suspended,” said Judge J. Cedric Simpson of the 14A District Court in Washtenaw County on May 15. “That is correct, your honor,” a public defender replied.
It turns out that was not, in fact, correct. At least not in the literal sense, because the defendant, Corey Harris, apparently never had a license to begin with.
“He has never had a license, ever,” Simpson said Wednesday. “And has never had a license in any of the other 49 states or commonwealths that make up this country.”
That revelation is just the latest twist in a story that has attracted massive national coverage and had more loops than a Six Flags death wish. The initial viral narrative—that Harris had a suspended license—was covered in outlets from USA Today to The Washington Post to Fox News, CNN, NBC, and on.
Hellbound and Down 