UPDATE: Richard Sherman Wife's Frightening 911 Call: 'He's Threatening To Kill Himself'
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- San Francisco 49ers fans know Richard Sherman as a calm, outspoken, intelligent voice in the team's lockerroom, but early Wednesday something snapped after a night of heavy drinking and he was arrested for domestic violence burglary.
Sherman -- who was an All-Pro during his years playing for the Seattle Seahawks -- currently is a free agent. His contract with the 49ers has expired and he had yet to resign with San Francisco or sign with another team as NFL training camps are set to open later Thursday morning.
Seattle radio station KIRO was able to obtain the audio of a 911 call Sherman's estranged wife, Ashley, made to police that night and made it public on YouTube.
On the recording, Ashley begged the operator to send officers to her home.
"I need officers to my house now, my husband is drunk and belligerent," she said. "He's threatening to kill himself."
"He's being aggressive, he's wrestling with my uncle, he's threatening to kill himself. He's sent text messages to people telling them he is going to hang himself."
While the operator tries to calm Ashley, she repeatedly says there were no weapons involved and he was threatening to confront police when they respond.
"He's saying if police show up -- please don't shoot him is what I'm asking," she said. "He has no weapons. He said if the police show up he will try to fight them."
When the 911 operator asks Ashley how much her husband has had to drink, she responds: "Two bottles. Of Vodka and Hennessy."
She can be heard begging Sherman -- who played collegiately at Stanford -- to stop as he attempts to drive away in his black Mercedes.
Sherman was arrested in Redmond, a suburb outside of Seattle where his in-laws live, the Redmond Police Department said. Sherman and his family live in Maple Valley, another Seattle suburb. According to a press release, officers were called to a home for a reported in-progress burglary and found Sherman trying to force entry into the home of his in-laws.
Police said Sherman attempted to walk away and fought with officers while being taken into custody, resulting in responding officers using a police dog to subdue him. Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe later said that both Sherman and the arresting officer were injured by the dog in the exchange.
Per Lowe, Sherman has a laceration on his lower leg/ankle as a result of a K-9 deployment. Lowe said a Redmond PD officer and a State Trooper — who was assisting in the arrest — also received minor injuries from the altercation.
— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) July 14, 2021
Earlier, police said Sherman was involved in a hit-and-run involving a solo vehicle, with Sherman leaving his severely damaged vehicle and fleeing on foot after striking a cement barrier on a SR 520 off-ramp.
Sherman was taken to a local hospital and later cleared and booked into the King County Correctional Facility, police said. Bail was denied but police said that is standard procedure for suspects of domestic violence until they can appear before a judge on Thursday.
Sherman is a vice president of the NFL Players Association. In a statement, the NFLPA said, "We were made aware of an arrest last night of one of our player leaders for an alleged domestic violence incident and have activated our domestic violence crisis protocol for the protection and support of everyone involved. We will continue to monitor events closely as more facts are made available to us."
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) July 14, 2021
Sherman, 33, married Ashley Moss in 2018. The couple have two children together and Moss helped Sherman negotiate his contract with the 49ers the same year they married.
Talking to the Seattle Times, Ashley Sherman said "He didn't harm anybody. My kids were not harmed in the incident. He's a good person and this is not his character. We're doing all right, just trying to get him out. I want people to know no one was injured."