New York Times Attempts To Backtrack On Reporting That Alabama Player Kai Spears Was At Scene Of Murder Following Lawsuit

Cooper Lee, a student manager for the Alabama men's basketball team has revealed that he was the unnamed passenger in Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller's car at the scene of Jamea Jonae Harris' murder. Not — as The New York Times ad reported — Alabama guard Kai Spears.

Spears is currently suing The Times, which finds itself in one hell of a pickle.

New York Times writer Billy Witz wrote an article that claimed Spears had been the passenger in Miller's call. This article was published on March 15. That was two months to the day after the murder that led to the arrest of former Alabama player Darius Miles and accomplice Michael Davis.

From the start, Spears, his father, and the Alabama athletic director all denied the story. However, The Times stood by its reporting.

This week, it was announced that Spears decided to sue the paper implicating him in the matter. Suddenly, The Times decided to take a second look at its reporting.

The New York Times is correcting its reporting after a lawsuit revealed "new details" proved their initial story about Alabama guard Kai Spears was inaccurate. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The New York Times Scrambles After Learning 'New Details' From Spears' Lawsuit

"On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident," a newly-placed editor's note at the top of Witz's article reads.

"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."

On Saturday, The Times published a new article. In it, they admit to the error and include direct quotes from Lee which were sent via email.

“I can confirm that I was the passenger in Brandon Miller’s car at the time of the shooting,” the 21-year-old wrote.

The paper did not reveal what new info Spears' lawsuit brought to its attention. However, it certainly didn't take long to realize the publication had made a significant error."We have a long standing policy of correcting errors,” New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades 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.”

Spears' attorney, Steve New, told OutKick in a statement that they intend to continue with the lawsuit, despite The Times' corrections.

“We look forward to pressing this case on to Justice on Kai’s behalf," New said. "I am especially thankful for the lawyers and staff at Prince Glover Hayes for helping me file the case this week”

Trey Wallace contributed reporting to this story.

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