(NewsNation) — A Michigan man who attended a Zoom court hearing while driving with an alleged suspended license was sent to jail due to an apparent clerical error.
Corey Harris attended a virtual hearing May 15 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on charges related to a traffic stop last year. In video footage, Judge Cedric Simpson appeared dumbfounded that Harris would appear before him while behind the wheel of a vehicle with a suspended driver’s license.
Harris’ bond was revoked, and he was ordered to turn himself in at the Washtenaw County Jail.
Harris’ driver’s license was suspended in 2010 due to a now-settled child support case, USA Today reported. However, a judge lifted the suspension in January 2022, WXYZ-TV reported, but the order was never transmitted to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office.
As a result, Harris said he spent two days in jail after turning himself in following the hearing.
Video of the incident went viral across social media, and Harris fears it could tarnish his reputation.
“With the type of ties that I have with the church and the community, it’s very embarrassing,” Harris told WXYZ.
In the video, Harris told Simpson he was pulling into a doctor’s office parking lot.
“What was I thinking? I was thinking about getting my wife medical help. That’s what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I got a suspended license. I don’t care about all that.” Harris told the news station.
Meanwhile, Khyla Craine, deputy legal director for the Michigan secretary of state, told WXYZ that the process to reinstate a driver’s license can be complicated.
“Sometimes it is simple as we at the secretary of state’s office did not get a clearance from the court that everything was done, but something happened in the wires, and we needed to talk to the court to get the clearance and clean it up for the resident,” Craine said.
NewsNation affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.