Suspended driver who went viral when he logged into Zoom court hearing from his CAR reveals huge twist in his case after being released from jail… and the judge might owe him an apology

A supposedly suspended driver who was mocked online for driving a car during a Zoom trial has revealed he was actually the victim of an administrative error.

Corey Harris, 44, revealed the monumental confusion two weeks after the May 15 virtual hearing into an October traffic stop in suburban Michigan went viral.

Judge Cedric Simpson expressed disbelief after Harris — a prominent member of the Ann Arbor community — appeared to be driving when he appeared at the virtual court hearing on a suspended license.

However, Harris told it 7 News Detroit the order to stop his license was actually revoked in January 2022, but never forwarded to the necessary state authorities.

Backed by court records seen by the station, the development comes after Harris spent two days in jail thanks to an irate Judge Cedric Simpson.

Harris, meanwhile, continues to go viral – much to his dismay.

Scroll down for video:

Corey Harris, 44, made the revelation Thursday in a phone interview — two weeks after the viral May 15 virtual hearing over an October traffic stop in suburban Michigan.

Judge Cedric Simpson expressed disbelief after Harris — a prominent member of the Ann Arbor community — appeared to be driving on a suspended license during a hearing. The oversight has yet to be corrected in the state archives

‘Mr. Harris, are you driving?’ Simpson asks in the clip — which ended with Harris’ bail being revoked and Simpson ordering him to surrender to authorities by 6 p.m.

Harris in turn replies that he is behind the wheel, to which Simpson expressed his surprise.

“Okay, so maybe I don’t understand something,” the Ann Arbor lawyer says in visible disbelief

‘This is a driver’s license suspension [case]… And he was just driving, and he doesn’t have a driver’s license.”

Harris also seems surprised at this point, telling Simpson that he had pulled into a doctor’s office parking lot for an appointment – later revealed to be for his wife.

However, the judge was not convinced and ruled that Harris must turn himself in and spend two days in the county lockup.

He reported to the Washtenaw County Jail that day.

Harris said this should never have happened, as another court had lifted the license suspension two years ago but failed to get the paperwork to the agency responsible for reinstatement.

He says he is now “embarrassed” by the case as he deals with the fallout from unfair criticism in the US and around the world.

‘Mr. Harris, are you driving?’ Simpson asks in the clip — which ended with Harris’ bail being revoked and Simpson ordering him to surrender to authorities by 6 p.m.

Harris’ public defender, seen here, has not commented on the accident as they also missed the apparent oversight. Meanwhile, the revocation is still available in Saginaw County court records

“With the kind of ties I have to the church and the community, it’s very embarrassing,” Harris told the station about the widely watched incident.

‘What was I thinking? “I was thinking about getting medical attention for my wife,” he said of Simpson’s line of questioning.

‘I thought so too.’

He added, “I didn’t think about getting a suspended driver’s license. I don’t care about any of that.

“They would have lifted it two years ago, but that didn’t happen.”

Court records support the churchgoer’s claims, fourteen years after his license was initially suspended in 2010.

In that case, the ruling stemmed from unpaid child support, but was overturned by another judge twelve years later, according to 7 News.

The station was the first to spot the clerical error in Harris’ court records, reporting that Simpson himself was unaware of the reinstatement because the Michigan The office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs never received the necessary permission.

Harris said he is now “embarrassed” by the case as he deals with the fallout of being wrongly castigated by the general public. He wants this to be resolved as quickly as possible

The agency responsible for sending such evidence, Saginaw County Friend of the Court, helps clients modify custody, parenting time and alimony orders.

As of Thursday afternoon, Harris’ license was still listed as suspended — the same information the police and judge relied on.

“I don’t even know why he would do that,” Simpson snaps in the now-viral video clip, at Harris’ expense.

Revealing how he has already visited the Secretary of State’s office in the hope of resolving the matter, he used the confusion as an opportunity to warn others of possible failures of their neighborhood governance.

He said, “Always double-check behind these employees. Because they say they’re going to do something, but they don’t do it.’

Additionally, neither of Simpson’s or Harris’ public defenders commented on the surveillance, as they also missed it.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Saginaw County’s Friend of the Court for clarification on what went wrong in Harris’ case. The revocation is still visible in the records kept by the state.