Hines Ward, 35, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver (and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant) found himself handcuffed and on the wrong end of a LAPD officer’s firearm in the early morning hours of May 5.
The celebrity and a female companion were cruising in her 2010 Honda Civic when she stopped at a Chevron gas station.
LAPD detained the couple because the car was reported stolen back in April.
The female companion had lost her car in a parking lot and reported it stolen herself. When she found her car, she forgot to alert the LAPD that she later found her vehicle.
Officers had been tailing the couple for more than 40 minutes, had run the license plate and noticed the car had been reported stolen. The police flicked the sirens; when the car stopped, Ward was pulled from the car at gunpoint, handcuffed and detained as the LAPD investigated the woman’s claims that her car, in fact, was not stolen.
With the LAPD helicopter hovering overhead, someone recognized Ward and apparently, the officers listened a little more carefully about the mix-up and let the two go on their way.
Ward is taking the situation with a grain of salt, as he told his Facebook friends:
“The incident in the news that involved me getting pulled over. I want everyone to know that this was a complete misunderstanding. The police were just doing their job. Apologies were made and it’s now in the past. Moving forward.”
Ward was very cooperative throughout the incident.
