James Pearce Jr’s NFL future is in peril after a state attorney in Florida brought four charges against the Falcons star over an alleged incident involving his ex-girlfriend, WNBA player Rickea Jackson.
The edge rusher, 22, is accused of following Jackson’s car and ramming his Lamborghini SUV into it several times as she drove to the police station in Doral, Florida.
According to arrest records, Pearce fled the scene after being confronted by police. He is then said to have crashed his car at an intersection before attempting to run away on foot. Remarkable images emerged on social media shortly after, showing six police officers pinning Pearce to the ground while trying to detain him.
Following the alleged incident on February 7, Pearce is facing three felony charges: aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police, and resisting an officer with violence to his or her person.
The 22-year-old – who last year signed a $16.8million contract with Atlanta – also faces a charge of aggravated stalking.
That has been changed from a felony to a misdemeanor, while an arrest charge of aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer was dropped. The Daily Mail contacted the Falcons and Pearce’s attorney for comment.
A state attorney in Florida has brought four charges against NFL star James Pearce Jr over an alleged incident involving WNBA player Rickea Jackson
The Atlanta Falcons rookie faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated stalking and fleeing police after a domestic incident with Jackson in February
The NFL star has already spent a night behind bars, having been arrested on February 7 before being released the following day on a bond of $20,500.
Pearce and Jackson – who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks – reportedly dated for around three years, only to separate shortly before the alleged incident. She filed for a protective order last month, with the WNBA star telling a court that she ‘feared for her life.’
In court documents, seen by the Daily Mail, which were filed two days after Pearce Jr’s arrest, Jackson wrote that Pearce ‘verbally and physically abused me on more than one occasion.’ He was also accused of threatening to kill her and place a bag over her head, according to the court filing.
The Los Angeles Sparks basketball star said that she believed ‘James will kill me’ if the court didn’t intervene, and she was granted a temporary injunction.
A hearing for a permanent injunction is scheduled for next month, but Pearce Jr is currently under order to not have any contact with Jackson, nor go within 500 feet of her home or place of employment, or within 100 feet of her vehicle.
In the court documents, Jackson also alleges that Pearce Jr ‘became violent’ with her in January in a public dispute at a gas station after believing she had cheated on him with another man.
Jackson wrote that he ‘attacked me by snatching my cellular phone out of my hand, pulling my hair, and taking my personal belongings.’ She alleges that she broke up with him shortly after, only for him to go on a ‘never-ending campaign of threats, physical assaults and abuse against me’, even ‘sleeping in his vehicle outside my house’.
WNBA star Jackson (second left) was pictured alongside Pearce Jr at the NFL Draft last year
The WNBA star was on court just hours before police arrested Pearce Jr on February 7
In a separate police report from the February 5 incident, Jackson detailed to cops her heightening fears that she was being stalked and harassed, and that she believed Pearce had tried to break into her apartment.
Jackson is not named in the police report, but her identity as the female involved in the case was confirmed by Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez after the arrest, and her attorney has since confirmed she is ‘willing to testify’ against Pearce if the domestic violence charges against him go to trial.
The WNBA player claims she called 911 about Pearce at least seven times in the weeks leading up to his arrest.
During one police visit on January 28, the woman living at the home identified Pearce as the subject of a domestic disturbance complaint and is said to have told police that she did not want him to enter the property.
It is then alleged in the police report that she decided to leave the property and instead go to stay in a hotel, such was her ‘fear’ that the situation would escalate.
Earlier on January 28, police had attended another call to the property in ’emergency mode’ amid reports of a daytime burglary in progress.
The police report again describes Pearce as the ‘subject’, but it is unclear what occurred and Ms Jackson told police that she saw Pearce leaving before the cops arrived.
Months earlier, on November 24, there was another domestic disturbance call in which Jackson alleged that Pearce had come to her property and wanted to enter after calling a landline ‘various times’.
The 22-year-old finished third in the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting at NFL Honors
She claimed that Pearce ‘owed her $70,000’ and the debt was the purpose of his visit, but that he left before police arrived.
Multiple further incidents were alleged in the police report, including on February 1 and 2, just days before Pearce was at NFL Honors and nominated for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The incident has now thrown his NFL career into doubt at the end of his first season, though Pearce denies wrongdoing.
His lawyers told ESPN that they stand by a statement made after his arrest, which said Pearce ‘maintains his innocence and urges the public to understand that while allegations have the power to shape a narrative, that it is hardly the full, complete story.’
An NFL spokesperson, meanwhile, told ESPN: ‘We continue to monitor all developments in the matter which remains under review of the personal conduct policy.’
