Clinton Police Chief Rick Scarbrough has publicly apologized for allowing a University of Tennessee football player charged Sunday with drunken driving to earlier speak at a Drug Abuse Resistance Education ceremony for students.

Britton Colquitt, 22, spoke in late January about the dangers of drug and alcohol use to 140 Clinton school system fifth-graders graduating from DARE training.

The all-SEC punter was arrested and charged early Sunday morning with drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Colquitt's earlier run-ins with the law over alcohol-related offenses resurfaced Monday following his arrest.

"I apologize for allowing Mr. Colquitt to be our speaker and accept full responsibility," Scarbrough said in the letter addressed to students, parents and Clinton residents.

"He (Colquitt) should have been screened more closely, possibly disclosed information himself, and not been allowed to address our group by the university," Scarbrough's letter states.

"I was kind of surprised they (UT officials) let him come," Scarbrough said Tuesday of Colquitt's DARE speech.

The university wasn't asked to allow Colquitt to speak at the DARE graduation, UT athletics department spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter said.

"They went directly to the family, and we were unaware of the speaking engagement," Carpenter said Tuesday afternoon.

Scarbrough said Clinton School Director Vicki Violette was "obviously upset" over Colquitt giving a speech to students who just completed a course emphasizing the dangers of drug and alcohol use.

"We should have done a better job of screening our candidate," Scarbrough said of Colquitt's speaking invitation.

Still, Scarbrough said, Colquitt "did a very good job" in warning students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

Colquitt's subsequent DUI arrest and the resulting loss of his athletic scholarship "is a lesson that supports the curriculum of DARE," the police chief's letter states.

"Let this be a reminder how devastating the use of alcohol and drugs can be," it continues.

Scarbrough said Clinton Police Department Detective Jim Campbell, a former professional football placekicker, knows Colquitt's father, Craig Colquitt.

The police chief said Campbell contacted Craig Colquitt and asked whether his son would be available to speak at the DARE ceremony.

"I can only assume that his family may have felt that supporting DARE was a way for Britton to confront his dependency issues," Scarbrough's letter states.

"I'm sure his family felt he was back on the road to recovery," Scarbrough said Tuesday.

Now 25 years old, the DARE program involves a series of classroom programs led by police officers teaching children how to resist peer pressure to use drugs and alcohol.

Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.