{"id":148499,"date":"2026-02-09T03:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T03:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/148499\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T03:31:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T03:31:31","slug":"falcons-rookie-pearce-arrested-after-what-police-say-was-a-domestic-dispute-with-wnba-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/148499\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons rookie Pearce arrested after what police say was a domestic dispute with WNBA player"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First\/AP) \u2014 Atlanta Falcons rookie star James Pearce Jr. was arrested near Miami on Saturday night after fleeing officers and then crashing his car following what police said was a domestic dispute with WNBA player Rickea Jackson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Pearce, 22, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, located just west of downtown Miami, after Doral police were called to investigate a reported domestic dispute between a man and a woman. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He was released from the jail on Sunday afternoon after posting bond of $20,500.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"James Pearce Jr. was arrested Saturday near Miami after fleeing officers and then crashing his...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SAFI5MX5FJB63B7U2VLW62RDB4.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>James Pearce Jr. was arrested Saturday near Miami after fleeing officers and then crashing his car following what police said was a domestic dispute with WNBA player Rickea Jackson.(Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Records indicate Pearce faces two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, along with one count each of aggravated stalking and fleeing or eluding police with lights or sirens activated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe are aware of an incident involving James Pearce Jr., in Miami,\u201d the Falcons said in a statement. \u201cWe are in the process of gathering more information and will not have any further comment on an open legal matter at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WPLG TV in Miami reported Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez confirmed the dispute was between Pearce and Jackson, a forward for the WNBA\u2019s Los Angeles Sparks. Jackson was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft and averaged 14.7 points in 38 games, including 37 starts, in the 2025 season. Jackson played for Tennessee and Mississippi State.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Pearce, an edge rusher from Tennessee, was the No. 26 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft as the Falcons emphasized the pass rush. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He was a finalist for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award after his stellar 2025 campaign, in which he recorded 26 combined tackles, 10.5 sacks, a forced fumble and five passes defended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Falcons finished 8-9, leading to the firings of coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot. The Falcons hired Kevin Stefanski as coach and Ian Cunningham as general manager.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">This is a developing story. Check back with Atlanta News First for updates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First\/AP) \u2014 Atlanta Falcons rookie star James Pearce Jr. was arrested near Miami on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51185,7849,11558,71808,71809,51183,71812,71814,12005,71807,71810,71813,42661,123,125,71811,124,51184,71815],"class_list":["post-148499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-anf","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta-falcons-lb-arrested","tag-atlanta-falcons-linebacker-arrested","tag-atlanta-news-first","tag-car-crash-miami","tag-dispute-with-wnba-player","tag-falcons","tag-james-pearce-jr-arrested","tag-james-pearce-jr-arrested-florida","tag-james-pearce-jr-stats","tag-james-pearce-jr","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-jail","tag-miami-news","tag-wanf","tag-wnba-player-dispute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}