Police report provides details of Georgia defensive back’s recent arrest

When the arresting Glynn County patrolman stopped Riddle, he noted in the report that Riddle was “extremely nervous, shaking” as he spoke to the officer. The officer reported that there was an “overwhelming odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.”

According to the report, the officer asked Riddle to step out of his vehicle, and Riddle complied. The arresting officer had an additional officer and a K9 officer conduct a free air sniff around the vehicle.

The officer asked Riddle if he had any marijuana inside the vehicle and Riddle told the officer he did not, the report said. Riddle, according to the report, granted consent to the officers to have his vehicle searched. The arresting officer was initially unable to locate any marijuana. But the assisting officer pulled a heat-sealed bag from a backpack that had been in the backseat.

The report said that officers found multicolored packaging inside the backpack, some with a leafy substance labeled marijuana and some with vapes that said they were THC.

After being placed under arrest, Riddle told the officer that he did in fact have marijuana in the vehicle, the report said. Riddle was transported to Glynn County Detention Center, where he was booked.

The Georgia defensive back posted bonds totaling $16,526 the day of his arrest.

“We are aware of the charges and are actively gathering additional information,” a Georgia football spokesperson said in a statement. “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will not be providing further comment at this time.”

Riddle transferred to Georgia this offseason from East Carolina. He was limited this spring because of an injury he suffered during his time with the Pirates. Riddle had two tackles and two pass breakups in Georgia’s spring game.

He has two seasons of eligibility remaining and is expected to help Georgia in the secondary this fall. Riddle is from Kingsland and played high school football for Camden County.

Riddle’s arrest was the third this year for a member of the Georgia football team related to driving. Chris Cole and Darren Ikinnagbon were both arrested and charged with reckless driving in February.

“We try to prevent the same mistake and you would think it’s as simple as just telling them, right? No, it does not work that way,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said in an April interview with 680 The Fan.

Smart said UGA requires defensive driving courses for some of its players.

“There’s nobody in the country — and I’ve asked everybody in the country — that does a mandatory defensive driving course every year that requires players that don’t have (a) driver’s license to take six hours with someone riding around with them to teach them how to drive. ...

“We want to educate them and help them with that. You can’t, you know, a lot of places can’t mandate that you have to do that. We do, and we do because of our history. That doesn’t make it perfect, but we’re certainly in a constant pursuit of perfection.”