{"id":461421,"date":"2026-02-11T03:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T03:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/461421\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T03:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T03:54:08","slug":"james-pearce-jr-maintains-innocence-in-rickea-jackson-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/461421\/","title":{"rendered":"James Pearce Jr. maintains innocence in Rickea Jackson crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Atlanta Falcons rookie James Pearce Jr. is \u201cmaintaining his innocence\u201d after being arrested<\/a> Saturday near Miami. Pearce is facing five felony charges after allegedly intentionally crashing his SUV into a vehicle being driven by Los Angeles Sparks player Rickea Jackson<\/a> multiple times. <\/p>\n

The 22 year-old linebacker was arrested after crashing his vehicle while trying to flee the scene of what the Doral Police Department described as a domestic dispute with the WNBA star, the Associated Press reported. He also allegedly \u201cintentionally\u201d hit a police officer\u2019s knee with his SUV while trying to get away. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to working with the State Attorney\u2019s office in fully investigating this case and uncovering the truth,\u201d Pearce\u2019s attorney, Jacob Nunez, said Monday in a statement to the AP<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr. 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. We look forward to vigorously defending our client and remain confident that he will continue contributing positively to both his team and the community he serves so well.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pearce\u2019s charges include two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, one count of aggravated stalking, fleeing or eluding police with lights or siren, and aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer. He was released Sunday after posting a $20,500 bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. A judge also issued Pearce a pre-trial order to stay away from Jackson. <\/p>\n

WPLG-TV<\/a> reported that Pearce had been stalking Jackson after she had recently ended their three-year relationship. The NFL player had continued to try to contact Jackson despite her blocking his phone number and telling him to leave her alone and that she wanted nothing to do with him, WPLG said. \u201cFearing for her safety,\u201d the Sparks forward had called 911 and was trying to get to the police station when Pearce purposefully crashed his vehicle into hers multiple times, according to the outlet. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of an incident involving James Pearce Jr. in Miami,\u201d the Falcons said in a statement to the AP. \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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons rookie James Pearce Jr. is \u201cmaintaining his innocence\u201d after being arrested Saturday near Miami. Pearce is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[15110,8308,215191,16221,73966,40886,663,59873,2821,213743,71999,99,215190,16329,10129,434,8911],"class_list":{"0":"post-461421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ap","9":"tag-battery","10":"tag-car-multiple-time","11":"tag-count","12":"tag-felony-charge","13":"tag-innocence","14":"tag-jackson","15":"tag-james-pearce-jr","16":"tag-miami","17":"tag-pearce","18":"tag-police-officer","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-state-attorney","21":"tag-statement","22":"tag-vehicle","23":"tag-wnba","24":"tag-wnba-star"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}