Atlanta Falcons linebacker James Pearce Jr. is going through a battery cost — in addition to different offenses — after an alleged home incident with Los Angeles Sparks star Rickea Jackson.
Doral, Florida, Police Chief Edwin Lopez advised native station Channel 10 Information that Pearce, 22, was in custody after crashing his automobile throughout a chase with officers on Saturday, February 7. He’s going through prices for the aforementioned two counts of aggravated battery with a lethal weapon, plus fleeing or eluding police with lights or siren and aggravated stalking.
A spokesperson for the Atlanta Falcons advised Us Weekly on Saturday, “We’re conscious of an incident involving James Pearce Jr. in Miami. We’re within the technique of gathering extra info and won’t have any additional touch upon an open authorized matter at the moment.”
Pearce reportedly fled the scene of an altercation with Jackson, 24, when police responded to a report of a dispute between a male and a feminine. Chief Lopez confirmed to Channel 10 Information that the girl concerned was Jackson.
UPDATE — 4/30/25, 2:48 p.m. ET: The Nationwide Soccer League has levied fines to the Atlanta Falcons and Falcons defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, over a prank cellphone name made to Shedeur Sanders in the course of the 2025 NFL draft. The Falcons have been fined $250,000 and Ulbrich, 48, was fined $100,000 for the leak of Sanders’ cellphone quantity. (…)
After allegedly fleeing, the soccer star crashed his automobile close to Northwest 103rd Avenue and 66th Road in Doral earlier than he was taken into custody. He was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Heart in Miami, with no bond instantly set.
Us has reached out to Doral police for remark and has additionally contacted the Sparks.
Pearce was chosen by the Atlanta Falcons because the twenty sixth total choose within the 2025 NFL draft and in the end performed in 17 video games with 26 mixed tackles and 10.5 sacks final season, per Sports activities Illustrated. He beforehand performed three seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers on the collegiate degree earlier than turning professional.
Jackson performed small ahead for the Woman Volunteers after transferring from Mississippi State in 2022. She was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks because the fourth total choose within the 2024 WNBA draft.
A romance between the 2 athletes was rumored courting again to their faculty days in Tennessee. Jackson lastly went public with the connection when she sat subsequent to Pearce at his NFL Draft get together in April 2024.
Followers rapidly identified the couple’s laborious launch through social media, with Jackson playfully responding through X“Soooo I’ve a doppelganger. Wow.”
Rickea Jackson in April 2024.
Sarah Stier/Getty PhotographsIn June 2025, Jackson shut down being pregnant rumors after she missed two Sparks video games attributable to private causes. The being pregnant hypothesis began when she posted a selfie displaying her holding a basketball in entrance of her abdomen.
When a fan criticized Jackson’s buddies for “implying that you just’re pregnant,” she clarified, “1. My buddies don’t use twitter. Yall gotta cease linking folks due to a comply with😩. 2. Yall come to conclusions on a regular basis it’s hilarious, however I’m a ‘wealthy auntie’ typa gallll.”
Jackson returned to follow on June 3, 2025, the place she complained to reporters about all the hypothesis about her absence.
“You’ve simply obtained to be practical with your self. Like, on the finish of the day, media isn’t about details anymore,” she advised the media. “In order that’s simply the media. Simply taking it with a grain of salt, and never being gullible.”
“No matter sounds the juiciest, that’s what folks wish to go together with,” she went on. “Like, I’m pregnant, apparently.”
The Atlanta Falcons revealed its upcoming NFL schedule — with a delicate dig at former league coach Invoice Belichick’s now-viral CBS interview. The Georgia-based soccer workforce made a Mario Kart-themed video to disclose which different groups they’d be taking part in within the fall, sharing it through social media on Wednesday, Could 14. Whereas teasing the (…)
On the time, Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts sought to downplay social media insinuations that Jackson’s absence was attributable to dissatisfaction with the WNBA franchise.
“With reference to Rickea, Rickea is a giant a part of our group and our workforce,” Roberts, 50, mentioned. “She is taking private time and we assist her. And we’re excited to get her again when she is able to come again.”
Jackson returned to the courtroom after a two-game absence and even performed by a leg damage later within the 2025 season.