Atlanta Falcons linebacker James Pearce Jr. is dealing with 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 informed native station Channel 10 News that Pearce, 22, was in custody after crashing his car throughout a chase with officers on Saturday, February 7. He’s dealing with costs 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 informed Us Weekly on Saturday, “We’re conscious of an incident involving James Pearce Jr. in Miami. We’re within the strategy of gathering extra data 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 telephone name made to Shedeur Sanders through the 2025 NFL draft. The Falcons had been fined $250,000 and Ulbrich, 48, was fined $100,000 for the leak of Sanders’ telephone quantity. […]
After allegedly fleeing, the soccer star crashed his automotive 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 general decide within the 2025 NFL draft and finally performed in 17 video games with 26 mixed tackles and 10.5 sacks final season, per Sports Illustrated. He beforehand performed three seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers on the collegiate degree earlier than turning professional.
Jackson performed small ahead for the Girl Volunteers after transferring from Mississippi State in 2022. She was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks because the fourth general decide within the 2024 WNBA draft.
A romance between the two athletes was rumored relationship again to their faculty days in Tennessee. Jackson lastly went public with the connection when she sat subsequent to Pearce at his NFL Draft celebration in April 2024.
Followers shortly identified the couple’s onerous launch through social media, with Jackson playfully responding via X, “Soooo I’ve a doppelganger. Wow.”
Rickea Jackson in April 2024. Sarah Stier/Getty Pictures
In June 2025, Jackson shut down pregnancy rumors after she missed two Sparks video games as a consequence of 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 pals for “implying that you just’re pregnant,” she clarified, “1. My pals don’t use twitter. Yall gotta cease linking folks due to a observe😩. 2. Yall come to conclusions on a regular basis it’s hilarious, however I’m a ‘wealthy auntie’ typa gallll.”
Jackson returned to apply on June 3, 2025, the place she complained to reporters about the entire hypothesis about her absence.
“You’ve simply obtained to be real looking with your self. Like, on the finish of the day, media isn’t about details anymore,” she informed 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 refined dig at former league coach Invoice Belichick’s now-viral CBS interview. The Georgia-based soccer staff made a Mario Kart-themed video to disclose which different groups they might 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 as a consequence of dissatisfaction with the WNBA franchise.
“With reference to Rickea, Rickea is a giant a part of our group and our staff,” Roberts, 50, mentioned. “She is taking private time and we help 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 way of a leg damage later within the 2025 season.
