EKU Defensive Back Charged With DUI Days Before Season Opener

A Richmond police officer pulled over a vehicle on North First Street early Saturday after watching it fail to signal onto East Irvine Street, setting off a chain of events that ended with an Eastern Kentucky University football player facing a DUI charge just a week before the season opener. Behind the wheel was Darius Akal, a 20-year-old redshirt sophomore defensive back from Lynch, Kentucky, who admitted to drinking and told officers, “I can't believe I done this.”

The stop happened on Aug. 22, according to WKYT, which reported that the vehicle had slowed substantially at one point to let Akal yell at people on the sidewalk before the officer noticed the missed signal. Once stopped, the officer reported a strong smell of alcohol coming from the car, along with a half-full bottle of blueberry rum sitting on the front passenger floorboard. Akal reportedly had glossy eyes, and four passengers were riding in the back seat without seat belts.

What Akal Told Police

Akal told officers he had been trying to get his friends home safely from Bluegrass Barrel House, a bar and live music venue at 701 East Irvine Street, according to the arrest citation cited by the same report. He said he had messed up. A breath test at the Madison County Detention Center showed his blood alcohol concentration at .049, a number that would fall well under the legal limit for an adult driver but is more than double the threshold Kentucky sets for drivers under 21.

Under Kentucky Revised Statute 189A.010, anyone under 21 caught driving with a BAC of 0.02% or higher can be charged with DUI, a much stricter standard than the 0.08% limit that applies to older drivers. The law is often described as Kentucky's “zero tolerance” policy for underage drivers, per the Legislative Research Commission. That threshold is why Akal's reported .049 reading was enough to support a charge despite sitting far below what would trigger a DUI case for a driver over 21.

It's worth noting that roadside breath tests are typically used only to establish probable cause for an arrest, while station-administered intoxilyzer or blood tests provide the evidence that holds up in court, according to guidance from Millard Law. Roadside results generally cannot be introduced as direct proof of impairment at trial in Kentucky.

The Full List of Charges

Akal was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence, failure to properly signal, possession of an open alcohol container in a motor vehicle, and failure to wear a seat belt. Kentucky's primary seat belt law, KRS 189.125, allows officers to stop and cite drivers or passengers solely for going unrestrained, which explains why the unbelted passengers in the back seat factored into the citation, per the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety. He was arrested and taken to the Madison County Detention Center.

If convicted on the DUI charge, Akal would face standard first-offense penalties under Kentucky law: 48 hours to 30 days in jail, fines between $200 and $500 plus court costs, a license suspension of 30 to 120 days, and mandatory alcohol education, according to the O'Neal Law Office. That minimum jail exposure can rise to four days if aggravating circumstances apply.

A Career Built on a Promise

Akal is listed on EKU's roster as a defensive back, measured at 5-foot-10, and he redshirted through the 2025 season without seeing game action. Before arriving in Richmond, he starred at Harlan High School, playing both running back and defense, and committed to EKU in part to fulfill a promise he'd made to his late mother, Katina, who died nearly two years earlier, according to Harlan County Sports.

The arrest came on Aug. 22. EKU's upcoming schedule and home venue were not specified in the report. Whether head coach Walt Wells or the athletic department will take any disciplinary action ahead of kickoff has not been addressed publicly.

A report described the arrest as the second EKU athlete DUI case in less than a month, though specifics on prior cases were not detailed. Akal's scheduled court date in Madison District Court has not been publicly announced. According to The Associated Press, Kentucky football player Chris Rodriguez was charged with DUI and careless driving on May 9, 2022, a separate case involving another Kentucky college football player. According to the Lexington Herald Leader, University of Kentucky football player Dekel Crowdus, 20, was arrested Sunday for DUI and charged with careless driving and marijuana possession in June 2023, in a separate case.