KU’s Devonté Graham arrested on municipal court traffic warrant, released on bond

Hours after the Kansas men’s basketball team won a share of its 13th consecutive Big 12 championship Wednesday, Jayhawks junior guard Devonté Graham was arrested and later released from jail.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office online jail log, Graham was booked at 11:27 p.m. for failure to appear in Lawrence Municipal Court. Graham was issued a ticket June 29 for an expired tag, according to the court, and was to be arraigned on July 13.

Graham, who turned 22 Wednesday, was arrested on Jayhawk Boulevard by University of Kansas Police, according to the booking log. Graham was released from Douglas County Jail after paying $196 bond.

When asked about the arrest by The Star, KU police deputy chief James Anguiano said he could not identify the person who was stopped.

“But we did have a car stop and arrested a subject,” Anguiano said. “It was in reference to a car stop and warrant.”

Anguiano said he didn’t know what prompted the traffic stop. During the stop, the officer realized there was an active warrant.

Self said on Thursday’s Big 12 coaches’ teleconference that Graham was stopped last summer while driving an ex-teammate’s car that had an expired tag.

“He thought the fine was paid,” Self said, “and basically was irresponsible and ignored an appearance because he thought it had been paid.”

Graham issued an apology in a statement released by the KU athletic department Thursday morning.

“This is my fault,” Graham said. “I thought the ticket was paid so I didn’t pay attention to the notice to appear that I got. That’s on me, and I apologize to everyone. I learned a lesson the hard way.”

Self said Graham won’t be suspended by the team. In the release from KU, Self said Graham “made a mistake.”

“This is why we tell our guys to inform us when they receive a citation, no matter how minor,” Self said. “For their sake we don’t want something so minor to become a story.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 9:48 AM with the headline "KU’s Devonté Graham arrested on municipal court traffic warrant, released on bond."