New York Times responds to Kai Spears lawsuit, issues correction to story connecting him to January shooting

Earlier this week, Alabama guard Kai Spears filed a lawsuit against the New York Times claiming libel and defamation stemming from a story connecting him to the January shooting, which involved former teammate Darius Miles and killed Jamea Harris. Friday night, a major update came out about the situation.

The Times issued a statement on the matter, confirming it plans to issue a correction to the original story from March, which said Spears was in Brandon Miller’s car the night of the shooting. As it turns out, Alabama manager Cooper Lee was in the car, he confirmed in an email to The Times. It comes just a couple days after Spears sued the newspaper for $75,000 in damages for failing to issue a retraction for that article, the Tuscaloosa Patch reported.

“We have a longstanding policy of correcting errors,” Times spokesperson Danielle Rhodes Ha said in a statement. “Based on information in the affidavit and new reporting by our newsroom, we believe our original story was not accurate and plan to append an editor’s note to the story.”

In the original story, the Times issued an Editor’s Note Friday night in light of Spears’ lawsuit.

“The original version of this article, published March 15, misidentified the person who was in the car with Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred,” the note read. “Based on information from a person familiar with the case, the article erroneously identified that person as Kai Spears, a freshman basketball player. After the article was initially published, Alabama’s athletic director and Spears’s father denied that Spears was present. The Times included those responses and reviewed its reporting, but did not conclude that any other change to the article was warranted at that time.

“On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident. Based on that information, editors assigned further reporting, which determined that the other person at the scene was not Spears but Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team. The Times regrets the error in the initial report. This article has been revised to remove the erroneous information; the latest updates can be seen here.”

Shortly after the original article came out, Alabama Athletics refuted the story with a statement and Spears said it was “100% inaccurate.”

More on Kai Spears’ lawsuit against the New York Times

According to The Patch’s report, Spears met with friends who were in town visiting after Alabama’s game against LSU Jan. 14. They ended up at The Strip and met Miller outside Houndstooth, a popular bar. Miler then invited them to eat at Moe’s Original BBQ at around 12:30 a.m. Jan. 15, but they said no because Spears’ friends had to leave early to head home.

At 1:40 a.m. Jan. 15, Spears’ attorneys say Lee reportedly got into Miller’s car while Spears and his friends headed back to his dorm. The shooting occurred at approx. 1:45 a.m., and Spears called Miller and Jaden Bradley via FaceTime to see where they went. That’s when he learned of the shooting, which damaged Miller’s car.

The shooting occurred in January and involved former Alabama player Darius Miles. He was charged with capital murder, dismissed from the basketball team and removed from campus shortly thereafter. Police testimony later came out linking Miller to the shooting, saying the gun — which belonged to Miles, according to previous court records — was in his car. Miller has not been charged and is viewed as a witness and not a suspect, police have said.