Iowa cornerback Jermari Harris arrested on OWI charge

IOWA CITY — Iowa cornerback Jermari Harris was arrested early Sunday morning on a charge of operating while intoxicated.

The arrest happened at 2:46 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Myrtle Avenue in Iowa City, according to the Iowa City Police Department.

The officer said Harris, who was driving a 2015 red Dodge Dart, was stopped for driving without headlights and had bloodshot eyes, impaired speech and balance and “smelled of ingested alcohol.”

Harris admitted he had been drinking, the officer said. His blood alcohol concentration was 0.096 percent, according to a Datamaster result in the police complaint. The legal limit for driving in Iowa is 0.08 percent.

An Iowa football team spokesman said the athletics department will follow “normal procedures,” and Harris is subject to the rules and regulations in department’s student-athlete code of conduct.

Harris started seven games last season at cornerback as a sophomore in 2021 and was listed as a first-team cornerback on the 2022 spring depth chart.

Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com