Less than a month after he was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2015 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, New York Jets defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson has been charged with resisting arrest in Missouri stemming from a high-speed chase earlier this month.
You read that right. Richardson allegedly took officers on a high-speed chase after authorities clocked him going as fast as 143 mph in his 2014 Bentley.
Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar said Richardson, 24, a St. Louis native and former University of Missouri star, was driving a 2014 Bentley Silver Spur that was clocked by police as going as fast as 143 mph.
He said as officers attempted to stop Richardson’s car and the other vehicle along the highway, Richardson increased his speed, drove off the highway, and sped through a traffic light to try to get away.”
As someone who has seen his fair share of high-speed chases during my stint in Los Angeles, I know full well that a vast majority of them end in the driver either wrapping his car around a telephone pole or being apprehended by authorities. Heck, it’s a daily news clip on Southern California television.
Sadly, the Pro Bowler put a 12-year-old boy in harm’s way. It’s being reported that the boy and two other men were in the car with Richardson at the time of the chase. Charges have not been filed against any of them.
Richardson has been charged with resisting arrest, exceeding the speed limit, following too closely, failing to use lights and failing to obey a traffic signal. It’s amazing he wasn’t charged with child endangerment.
Update: A police report obtained by NFL Media’s Rand Getlin paints this incident in a much more serious manner than originally anticipated.
Statement of probable cause regarding Sheldon Richardson's arrest on a variety of charges. (via @sccmo) pic.twitter.com/HBMuPRQZSP
— Rand Getlin (@RandGetlin) July 30, 2015
The report indicates that authorities had to remove Richardson and the two adults from the vehicle at gunpoint because the Jets defensive lineman reached for something between his feet. Upon detaining the men, police found a fully loaded semi-automatic handgun from underneath the driver’s side floor mat. There was also allegedly a strong odor of marijuana in the car.
Photo: USA Today Sports