Man who went viral for driving during Zoom court hearing had license restored in 2022

( NewsNation ) — A Michigan man who attended a Zoom court hearing while supposedly driving with a 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Harris’ bond was revoked, and he was ordered to turn himself in at the Washtenaw County Jail.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.

“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,'” Khyla Craine, deputy legal director for the Michigan secretary of state, told WXYZ.

Video of the court hearing 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.

Upon parking, Harris’ legal team requested an adjournment of the case for four weeks, but Simpson wasn’t having it.

“Okay, so maybe I don’t understand something,” the judge said. “This is a driving while license suspended [case] and he was just driving…and he didn’t have a license.”

When the assistant public defender confirmed what he had said, Simpson reviewed Harris’ paperwork before revoking his bond and ordering to turn himself in to the Washtenaw County Jail by 6 p.m. that evening.

As a result, Harris said he spent two days in jail after turning himself in following the hearing.

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